Aerodynamic Performance of a Gun Launched Micro Air Vehicle

Abstract

The study deals with the prediction of the aerodynamic performance of the Gun Launched Micro Air Vehicle (GLMAV) platform by using the ANSYS CFX code. A first step consisted of the validation of the numerical simulation on a two-bladed rotor, which has a diameter of 0.20 m. This micro-rotor model is the perfect reproduction at a scale of 1:10 of the rotor bench that ISL had studied in the nineties. The validation was made by the comparison of the computed thrust and torque with the measured ones. These results proved the ability of the ANSYS CFX code to predict the flow field around MAV rotors and gave us confidence for further computations. The second step consisted of an analysis of the grid convergence for the single rotor of the GLMAV platform. Finally, by using the experience gained from all previous computational investigations, the computation of aerodynamic performance of the two coaxial 0.25-m diameter counter-rotating rotors of the GLMAV was carried out in hover flight.