Aerodynamic performance of mutual interaction tandem propellers with ducted UAV

This paper describes progress made on the new design and analysis of a twin-propeller (front and rear) with duct. Major advantage of this design is that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) could complete the mission with only one engine, in the case of failure in one of the engines. Such a design also makes a fair weight distribution within the UAV, which makes it more stable. Furthermore, this design makes it possible to arm the UAV with missiles and other military equipment easily. Ducts traditionally increase the propulsive force produced by propeller at high speeds. Improper design of the duct can result in performance loss of the UAV. Therefore, the UAV model with Six different duct configurations is analyzed to find the most appropriate duct design. The Moving Reference Frame (MRF) method is implemented and examined in CFD simulations for flows around a moving rigid body. Variations included rotational speed of the propeller, incident angle allowing a comprehensive understanding of the overall aerodynamic characteristics of this design. The results of this study show good conformity with the experimental outcomes. Lift force and drag force are studied with different angles of attack. This work shows that rear and front propeller design with duct improves the efficiency by 6%, which offers better performance than two-propeller (without duct) designs. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This paper describes the progress made on a new design of twin-propeller (front and rear) with duct, which improves the stability and performance of the UAV.