Research Article
Khuntia SK and Ahuja AS
Abstract
In the recent past small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or Unmanned Aerial System as it is called presently) have evolved as an important tool in non-conventional fields like agriculture, e-Commerce, policing, medical logistics in addition to military applications. This paper presents the complete methodology (very limited article exists) applied to optimally design the wing of a small scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with help of widely used CFD software, ANSYS to maximize its efficiency. In this study, the application of computational methods in the iterative design process is successfully explored. The various design parameters and features of wing also have been explored with help of CFD analysis to derive the advantages. The strength and stiffness analysis of the UAV wing has also been carried out using ANSYS. The modelling of wing and associated parts were carried out on CATIA. The final design of the wing has two spars, 20 ribs a side with mid wing root strengthening, near elliptical planform and has an all composite structure. The wing is lighter in weight as compared to a similar wing made from Aluminum view weight optimization, and strong enough to meet all in-flight load conditions with safety margins. This paper demonstrates the design process/methodology to optimally design an efficient small-scale UAV.