• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.374-382
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• 2014

This paper presents the computational aerodynamic analysis of a long-endurance UAV that was developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), named EAV-2. EAV-2 is a technical demonstrator of aerodynamically efficient design, as well as a hybrid electric-propulsion system for future long-endurance UAVs. We evaluated the aerodynamic characteristics of six low-Reynolds number airfoils, using a panel method code, XFOIL, to select an optimal airfoil for the long-endurance mission of EAV-2. The computational results by a CFD code, FLUENT, suggested that the aerodynamic performance of EAV-2 would be notably improved after adopting SG6043 airfoil, and modifying the fuselage design. This reduced the total drag by 43%, compared to that of a previous KARI model, EAV-1, at the target lift of $C_L=1.0$. Also, we achieved a drag reduction of approximately 14% by means of the low-drag fuselage configuration.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.371-385
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• 2020

A forward-facing aerospike attached to a payload fairing of a satellite launch vehicle significantly alters its flowfield and decreases the aerodynamic drag in transonic and low supersonic speeds. The present payload fairing is an axisymmetric configuration and consists of a blunt-nosed body along with a conical section, payload shroud, boat tail and followed by a booster. The main purpose of the present numerical simulations is to evaluate flowfield and assess the performance of aerodynamic drag coefficient with and without aerospike attached to a payload fairing of a typical satellite launch vehicle in freestream Mach number range 0.8 ≤ M_∞ ≤ 3.0 and freestream Reynolds number range 33.35 × 10⁶/m ≤ Re_∞ ≤ 46.75 × 10⁶/m whichincludes the maximum aerodynamic drag and maximum dynamic conditions during ascent flight trajectory of the satellite launch vehicle. A numerical simulation has been carried out to solve time-dependent compressible turbulent axisymmetric Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The closure of the system of equations is achieved using the Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model. The aerodynamic drag reduction mechanism is analysed employing numerical results such as velocity vector plots, density and Mach contours in conjunction with the experimental flow visualization pictures. The variations of wall pressure coefficient over the payload fairing with and without aerospike are exhibiting different kind of flowfield characteristics in the transonic and low supersonic speeds. The numerically computed results are compared with schlieren pictures, oil flow patterns and measured wall pressure distributions and exhibit good agreement between them.

• Wind and Structures
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.257-273
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• 2008

A number of passive aerodynamic drag reduction methods were applied separately and then in different combinations on an intercity bus model, through wind tunnel studies on a 1:20 scale model of a Mercedes Benz Tourismo 15 RHD intercity bus. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling was also conducted in parallel to assist with flow visualisation. The commercial CFD package $CFX^{TM}$ was used. It has been found that dramatic reductions in coefficient of drag ($C_D$) of up to 70% can be achieved on the model using tapered and rounded top and side leading edges, and a truncated rear boat-tail. The curved front section allows the airflow to adhere to the bus surfaces for the full length of the vehicle, while the boat-tails reduce the size of the low pressure region at the base of the bus and more importantly, additional pressure recovery occurs and the base pressures rise, reducing drag. It is found that the CFD results show remarkable agreement with experimental results, both in the magnitude of the force coefficients as well as in their trends. An analysis shows that such a reduction in aerodynamic drag could lead to a significant 28% reduction in fuel consumption for a typical bus on intercity or interstate operation. This could translate to a massive dollar savings as well as significant emissions reductions across a fleet. On road tests are recommended.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.221-227
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• 2005

Aim of this study is to investigate an aerodynamic effect of a drag-reducing device on a heavy-duty truck. The vehicle experiences two different kinds of aerodynamic forces such as drag and uplifting force (or downward force) as it is traveling straight forward at constant speed. The drag force on a vehicle may cause an increase of the rate of fuel consumption and driving instability. The rolling resistance of the vehicle may be increased as result of the negative uplifting or downward force on the vehicle. A device named roof-fairing system has been applied to examine the reduction of aerodynamic drag force on a heavy-duty truck. As for a engineering design information, the drag-reducing system should be studied theoretically and experimentally for the best efficiency of the device. Four different types of roof-fairing model were considered in this study to investigate the aerodynamic effect on a model truck. The drag and downward force generated by vehicle has been obtained from numerical calculation conducted in this study. The forces produced on four fairing models considered in this study has been compared each other to evaluate the best fairing model in terms of aerodynamic performance. The result shows that the roof-fairing mounted truck has bigger negative uplifting or downward force than that of non-mounted truck in all speed ranges, and drag force on roof-fairing mounted truck has smaller than that of non-mounted truck. The drag coefficient $(C_D)$ of the roof-fairing mounted truck (Model-3) is reduced up to $41.3\%$ than that of non-mounted trucks (Model-1). A downward force generated by a roof-fairing mounted on a truck is linearly proportional to the rolling resistance force. Therefore, the negative lifting force on a heavy-duty truck is another important factor in aerodynamic design parameter and should be considered in the design of a drag-reducing device of a tractor-trailer. According to the numerical result obtained from present study, the drag force produced by the model-3 has the smallest of all in all speed ranges and has reasonable downward force. The smaller drag force on model-3 with 2/3h in height may results of smallest thickness of boundary layer generated on the topside of the container and the lowest intensity of turbulent kinetic energy occurs at the rear side of the container.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.225-238
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• 2019

A spike attached to a blunt nosed body significantly alters its flow field and influences the aerodynamic coefficients at hypersonic speed. The basic body is an axisymmetric, with a hemisphere nose followed by a cylindrical portion. Five different types of spikes, namely, conical aerospike, hemisphere aerospike, flat-face aerospike, hemisphere aerodisk and flat-face aerodisk are attached to the basic body in order to assess the aerodynamic characteristic. The spiked blunt body without the aerospike or aerodisk has been set to be a basic model. The coefficients of drag, lift and pitching moment were measured with and without blunt spike body for the length-to-diameter ratio (L/D) of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0, at Mach 6 and angle of attack up to 8 degrees using a strain gauge balance. The measured forces and moment data are employed to determine the relative performance of the aerodynamic with respect to the basic model. A maximum of 77 percent drag reduction was achieved with hemisphere aerospike of L/D = 2.0. The comparison of aerodynamic coefficients between the basic model and the spiked blunt body reveals that the aerodynamic drag and pitching moment coefficients decrease with increasing the L/D ratio and angle of attack but the lift coefficient has increasing characteristics.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제7권7호
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• pp.149-156
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• 1999

In this study, aerodynmaic characteristics of the notch-back and fast-backpassenger vehicle models(1/10~1/12 acale) attached with winglets were experimentally investigated in a low speed wind tunnel. For various positions(X/L). tilted angles($\beta$) of a winglet, the aerodynamic forces on the vehicle model and rear-surface pressures were measured at various flow speeds. Also a flow of model surface was visualized by tuft method. The experimental results showed that winglets effect aerodynamic characteristics of vehicle models. A maximum of 3% reduction in lift coefficient was achieved with winglets at $\alpha$=-30$^{\circ}$. A maximum of 10% reduction in drag coefficient was achieved for a model with winglets and a rear-spoiler.

• 한국항공운항학회지
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• 제6권1호
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• pp.7-20
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• 1998

A reduction of induced drag is an important problem in order to save fuels. In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of wing tip devices to reduce induced drag, such as end plate, plain ring, helical ring wing tip device, was experimentally investigated in a low speed wind tunnel. The experimental results showed that the wing model with a helical ring wing tip device reduced a induced drag and increased lift-drag ratio.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.311-324
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• 2015

This study presents computational analyses for low-drag aerodynamic design that are applied to modify a long-endurance UAV. EAV-2 is a test-bed for a hybrid electric power system (fuel cell and solar cell) that was developed by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) for use in future long-endurance UAVs. The computational investigation focuses on designing a wing with a reduced drag since this is the main contributor of the aerodynamic drag. The airfoil and wing aspect ratio of the least drag are defined, the fuselage configuration is modified, and raked wingtips are implemented to further reduce the profile and induced drag of EAV-2. The results indicate that the total drag was reduced by 54% relative to EAV-1, which was a small-sized version that was previously developed. In addition, static stabilities can be achieved in the longitudinal and lateral-directional by this low-drag configuration. A long-endurance flight test of 22 hours proves that the low-drag design for EAV-2 is effective and that the average power consumption is lower than the objective cruise powerof 200 Watts.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.107-125
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• 2023

Drag reduction is significant research in aircraft design due to its effect on the cost of operation and carbon footprint reduction. Aircraft currently use conventional solid winglets to reduce the induced drag, adding extra structural weight. Fluidic on-demand winglets can effectively reduce drag for low-speed flight regimes without adding any extra weight. These utilize the spanwise airflow from the wingtips using hydraulic actuators to create jets that negate tip vortices. This study develops a computational model to investigate fluidic on-demand winglets. The well-validated computational model is applied to investigate the effect of injection velocity and angle on the aerodynamic coefficients of a rectangular wing. Further, the turbulence parameters such as turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and turbulent dissipation rate are studied in detail at various velocity injections and at an angle of 30°. The results show that the increase in injection velocity shifted the vortex core away from the wing tip and the increase in injection angle shifted the vortex core in the vertical direction. Further, it was found that a 30° injection is efficient among all injection velocities and highly efficient at a velocity ratio of 3. This technology can be adopted in any aircraft, effectively working at various angles of attack. The culmination of this study is that the implementation of fluidic winglets leads to a significant reduction in drag at low speeds for low aspect ratio wings.

• 한국추진공학회지
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.25-32
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• 2015

원통 모델에 공기저항저감 효과를 검증하기 위해서 원통형에 적합한 유연성 플라즈마 구동기를 제작하였다. 다양한 풍속에서 플라즈마 유동제어 풍동시험을 수행하였으며, CFD 해석과 유동가시화를 수행하였다. 풍속이 느린 저속 구간에서는 유동박리가 발생하지 않아 플라즈마 유동제어 효과가 없었다. 풍속 14 m/s 에서 14% 정도 항력이 저감되었으며, 풍속이 증가된 17 m/s 의 경우 항력이 27% 저감되었다. CFD 해석과 유동가시화의 비교를 통해 DBD플라즈마 구동기는 원통 주변의 압력차를 감소시켜 와류의 크기가 줄어든 것으로 확인되었다.