Wing design for a low altitude unmanned aerial vehicle: A nuanced study of aerodynamic drag

In a network centric warfare scenario, where eyes in the sky are of irreplaceable importance, unmanned aerial vehicles with imaging capabilities contribute significantly in this regard. Any such UAV would require good endurance capabilities for effective operations. The focus of design would be on reducing aerodynamic drag consequently having a positive impact on the glide ratio, the C-Wing configuration with its minimalized drag proves to be a required fit for the specified role. The C-Wing configuration is compared to a conventional rectangular wing configuration. The 3-Dimensional models of the UAV Wing have been rendered on SolidWorks, with discretization being done on ICEM CFD. A computational fluid dynamic analysis with a steady state incompressible flow condition has been carried out on a commercially available software ANSYS FLUENT 15 to ascertain the Aerodynamic characteristics, i.e., Drag forces of the UAV. Further, the obtained aerodynamic characteristics are validated against empirically calculated values. The most effective design has been identified on the basis of minimum drag at varying operational parameters. This study aims at materializing a suitable wing with highly optimized drag characteristics for UAVs which would be under the operation profile of a Low Altitude Surveillance aerial system. Software Used: XFLR5, SolidWorks, ANSYS FLUENT 15, ICEM CFD.