Lift–Drag Performance of a New Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Different Media and Ground Effect

• Published in: Journal of marine science and engineering 2024-07, Vol.12 (7), p.1052
• Main Authors: Wang, Wenhua, Wang, Lijian, Zhang, Kedong, Huang, Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air; Aircraft; Aircraft performance; Armed forces; Autonomous underwater vehicles; Design; dish-airfoil-shaped main body; Drag; drag force; Fish; Free surfaces; ground effect; Ground effect (aerodynamics); Lift; lift force; Marine fishes; Mathematical models; Media; Numerical analysis; Numerical methods; Sails; Submarines; telescopic NACA-type wing; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Unmanned aircraft; Unmanned vehicles; Water
• ISSN: 2077-1312; 2077-1312
• DOI: 10.3390/jmse12071052

Water–air trans-media unmanned vehicle is a kind of aircraft, which can freely fly in the air, sail in the water and pass through free surface. For trans-media aircrafts, the development process from air–surface to air–underwater and from submarine-launched drive to autonomous drive is investigated. By analyzing the characteristic of manta ray, flying fish and existing aircraft, this paper proposes a new water–air trans-media unmanned vehicle with flat dish-airfoil-shaped main body and telescopic NACA-type wing. Then the numerical method to calculate the lift and drag forces is established and validated by the results of classic NACA cases. On this basis, the flow field around the new vehicle is numerically simulated, and its lift–drag performances in different media (air and water) and ground effect are analyzed, comparing it with a model inspired by the Blackwing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The findings illustrate the superior performance of the new vehicle in terms of lift and drag forces, offering an innovative design framework for water–air trans-media UAV applications.