Analysis of partial wing damage on flying-wing unmanned air vehicle

Abstract

This article investigates the effect of asymmetric wing damage on flight dynamic characteristics of a flying-wing single motor unmanned air vehicle. To construct a six degree-of-freedom model of the damaged aircraft, a flying-wing type unmanned aerial vehicle is designed, and the wind tunnel test for damaged configurations is performed to identify the change of aerodynamic coefficients. The changes of mass, center of gravity, and moment of inertia are also calculated for each damage configuration with CATIA. The changed trim states are calculated depending on the severity of damage, and the movements of poles in longitudinal/lateral-directional flight modes are examined to evaluate the change of the dynamic stability and performance. Numerical simulations and eigenvalue analyses are performed to investigate the altered flight dynamics. It is verified that an asymmetrically wing-damaged unmanned air vehicle shows a sluggish roll behavior with longitudinal instability, and the result of this study can be a cornerstone for the future research on reconfigurable flight controller design against aircraft damage.