Small-winged drones can face highly varied aerodynamic requirements, such as high manoeuvrability for flight among obstacles and high wind resistance for constant ground speed against strong headwinds that cannot all be optimally addressed by a single aerodynamic profile. Several bird species solve this problem by changing the shape of their wings to adapt to the different aerodynamic requireme...

Reducing the ducted-fan noise at the low frequency range remains a big technical challenge. This study presents a passive approach to directly suppress the dipole sound radiation from an axial-flow fan housed by a tensioned membrane with cavity backing. The method aims at achieving control of low frequency noise with an appreciable bandwidth. The use of the membrane not only eliminates the aero...

In order to reduce aerodynamic noise radiated from the turbulent wake of bluff bodies, vorticity structures and flow field around a rotating circular cylinder at Reynolds numbers between 102 and 104 were numerically investigated. Vorticity structures and resultant aerodynamic noise is strongly dependant on the velocity ratio, which is defined as flow velocity over rotational speed to the cylind...

As wind turbines continue to grow larger, problems associated with adverse aerodynamic loads will grow more critical. Thus, the wind energy technical community has begun to seriously consider the potential of aerodynamic control methodologies for mitigating adverse aerodynamic loading. Spatial and temporal attributes of the structures and processes present in these flow fields hold important im...

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of aerodynamic drag losses, relate them to aerothermodynamic losses in the aircraft as a whole, and develop methods for assessing drag chargeability. The concept of the aerodynamic “loss deck” is introduced and applied to the analysis of an F-5E fighter. It is shown that this loss deck can be used to integrate aero losses through the vehicle mi...

A DLM-based aerodynamic simulator for flutter is used to identify some of the most important aerodynamic drivers for the T-Tail flutter mechanism of a complete aircraft. The simulator is using the Modal Descrambling Factoring Method, which permits individual variations of each direct and each interference aerodynamic force, moment and hinge moment independently of any other force or moment. The...

Aerodynamic forces on bridges are commonly separated into static, self-excited, and buffeting force components. By delving into the relationships among force descriptors for static, self-excited, and buffeting components, novel perspectives are developed to unveil the subtle underlying complexities in modeling aerodynamic forces. Formulations for airfoil sections and those based on quasisteady ...

Recent enhancements to the development of CFD-based unsteady aerodynamic and aeroelastic reduced-order models (ROMs) are presented. These enhancements include the simultaneous application of structural modes as CFD input, static aeroelastic analysis using a ROM, and matched-point solutions using a ROM. The simultaneous application of structural modes as CFD input enables the computation of the ...

This paper examines feasibility and performance issues in using Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs) to control the attitude of a fixed-wing aircraft. The paper describes a control system structure that permits allocating control authority and bandwidth between a CMG system and conventional aerodynamic control surfaces to stabilize a vehicle with neutral aerodynamic stability. A simulation study ex...