Abstract
The present study explores the aerodynamic parameter analysis and design of a quad-rotor air vehicle in hover using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and Design of experiments (DOE). Following the identification of the center distance between rotors in terms of hovering thrust and velocity/pressure distributions, the blade-shape parameter design is implemented to predict the optimal levels of twist angle, maximum chord position, blade cross-section type and twist position, and the significant factor effects and factor interactions in DOE are discussed. The present study shows that optimized twist angle and twist-starting position enables maximum hovering thrust in the proposed quad-copter.
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Recommended by Associate Editor Chang-Wan Kim
Jongsoo Lee received B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University, Korea in 1988 and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY in 1996. After a Research Associate at Rensselaer Rotorcraft Technology Center, he is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University. His research interests include multidisciplinary/ multi-physics/multi-scale design optimization and reliability-based robust engineering design with applications to structures, structural dynamics, fluid-structure interactions and flow induced noise and vibration problems.
Jaehyun Yoon is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University. His research interests are on the Aerodynamics, Dynamics, Control and Optimization in Robust Design of Multi-Rotor Air Vehicles.
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Yoon, J., Lee, J. Parameter analysis and design for the hovering thrust of a quad-rotor air vehicle using CFD and design of experiment. J Mech Sci Technol 32, 781–791 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-018-0126-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-018-0126-0