A study on the aerodynamic characteristics of a stratospheric airship in its entire flight envelope

Abstract

Aerodynamic characteristics of a stratospheric airship in its entire flight envelope, including take-off, ascending, cruising, descending, and landing, is an important part of its research topic. In this paper, experiments of wind pressure measurement on a 1/30-scale stratospheric airship model were carried out to obtain a better assessment of the aerodynamic characteristics during the cruising process. Based on the wind pressure distribution, the effects of pitch angle, yaw angle, and combined angles (pitch angle and yaw angle acted simultaneously) on the aerodynamics of the airship were analyzed. In addition, the contributions of different portions of the airship hull (namely head, middle, and tail) to the aerodynamic forces and moments were discussed. The experimental results imply that the tail portion is the main contributor to pressure drag force. The combined angles significantly increase aerodynamic forces and rolling moment, and the rolling moment produced by the middle portion accounts for the major proportion. Secondly, the computational fluid dynamics method was verified and employed to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the full-scale model in its entire flight envelope based on the decision of the wind environment parameters and attitude. As a main result, it can be concluded that, more attention should be paid to the airship when it is located in the troposphere and near the ground with an inclined take-off angle.