• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2009

This paper surveys the historical perspective and design considerations for developing the human powered aircraft(HPA). Especially the weight and materials, aerodynamics, flight controls, and power trains are focused. The average power a human can produce and sustain is approximately 200${\sim}$250 W which is a critical design constraint of HPA. The survey shows that the empty weight of HPA was in the 30${\sim}$40 kg range(90${\sim}$110 kg include pilot). Thus, in order to design a successful HPA, the value of power to weight ratio should be 2.0 W/kg or above. The HPA design technique could be applied directly to the development of an unmanned high altitude airplanes used for atmospheric research, where light structures, low Reynolds number aerodynamics and high efficiency propeller design are required as well.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.195-201
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• 2008

In the jet engines on the aircrafts cruising at high altitude over 20 km and subsonic speed, the Reynolds number in terms of the compressor blades becomes very low. In such an operating condition with low Reynolds number, it is widely reported that total pressure loss of the air flow through the compressor cascades increases dramatically due to separation of the boundary layer and the secondary-flow. But the detail of flow mechanisms causes the total pressure loss has not been fully understood yet. In the present study, two series of numerical investigations were conducted to study the effects of Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics of compressor cascades. At first, the incompressible flow fields in the two-dimensional compressor cascade composed of C4 airfoils were numerically simulated with various values of Reynolds number. Compared with the corresponding experimental data, the numerically estimated trend of total pressure loss as a function of Reynolds number showed good agreement with that of experiment. From the visualized numerical results, the thickness of boundary layer and wake were found to increase with the decrease of Reynolds number. Especially at very low Reynolds number, the separation of boundary layer and vortex shedding were observed. The other series, as the preparatory investigation, the flow fields in the transonic compressor, NASA Rotor 37, were simulated under the several conditions, which corresponded to the operation at sea level static and at 10 km of altitude with low density and temperature. It was found that, in the case of operation at high altitude, the separation region on the blade surface became lager, and that the radial and reverse flow around the trailing edge become stronger than those under sea level static condition.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.485-492
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• 2015

Small advance ratio and low Reynolds number of stratospheric propulsion system bring lots of challenges to the design of propellers. Contra-rotating propeller configuration is proposed to improve the propulsion efficiency. In this paper, the feasibility of contra-rotating propeller for stratospheric airship has been assessed and its performance has been investigated by wind tunnel tests. The experimental results indicate, at relatively low Reynolds number, although the advance ratio is fixed, the performance of propellers is different with variation of Reynolds number. Moreover, at the same Reynolds number, the efficiency of contra-rotating propeller achieved appears to be a few percent greater than that for a standard conventional propulsion system. It can be concluded that contra-rotating propellers would be an efficient means to improve the performance of stratospheric airship propulsion system.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2016

The comparison of two commercial codes(FLUENT and STAR-CCM+) and an open-source code(OpenFOAM) are carried out for the aerodynamic analysis of flight vehicles at low speeds. Tailless blended-wing-body UCAV, main wing and propeller of HALE UAV(EAV-3) are chosen as geometries for the investigation. Using the same mesh, incompressible flow simulations are carried out and the results from three different codes are compared. In the linear region, the maximum difference of lift and drag coefficients of UCAV are found to be less than 2% and 5 counts, respectively and shows good agreement with wind tunnel test data. In a stall region, however, the reliability of RANS simulation is found to become poor and the uncertainty according to code also increases. The effect of turbulence models and meshes generated from different tools are also examined. The transition model yields better results in terms of drag which are much closer to the test data. The pitching moment is confirmed to be sensitive to the existence and the location of transition. For the case of EAV-3 wing, the difference of results with ${\kappa}-{\omega}$ SST model is increased when Reynolds number becomes low. The results for the propeller show good agreement within 1% difference of thrust. The reliability and uncertainty of three codes is found to be reasonable for the purpose of engineering use. However, the physical validity and reliability of results seem to be carefully examined when ${\kappa}-{\omega}$ SST model is used for aerodynamic simulation at low speeds or low Reynolds number conditions.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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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.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2019

In this paper, the performance of a small fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle is predicted theoretically with the minimum specifications and a low Reynolds number. Based on the results, it was compared with the results of an actual flight test and simple electric motor wind tunnel test. As a result of the validity of the analysis, a 3.5 kilograms class fixed wing small UAV can predict aerodynamic performance by general theory analysis. However, the required thrust was analyzed as a possible design error. Based on the results of this study, this paper proposed a method to minimize the design error when developing small fixed wing UAV flying in a low Reynolds number.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.647-654
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• 2010

In this study, an efficient ornithopter aerodynamic model, which is applicable to ornithopter wing design considering fluid-structure interaction or ornithopter flight dynamics and control simulation, was proposed and experimentally validated through the wind tunnel experiments. Due to the ornithopter aerodynamics governed by unsteady low Reynolds number flow, an experimental device was specially designed and developed. A part of the experimental device, 2-axis loadcell, was situated in the non-inertial frame; the dynamic calibration method was established to compensate the inertial load for pure aerodynamic load measurements. The characteristics of proposed aerodynamic model were compared with the experimental data in terms of mean and root-mean-square values of lift and drag coefficients with respect to the flow speed, flapping frequency, and fixed angle of attack.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 2015

태양광 고고도 장기체공형 무인기나 인간동력 항공기 등에 사용되는 높은 종횡비를 가진 유연날개는 공력 및 구조 상호작용으로 인하여, 구조적 비선형 처짐 및 양력감소 등의 문제가 발생한다. 본 연구에서는 저속 비행하는 높은 종횡비를 가진 날개의 단방향 공력-구조 연계해석을 수행하였다. XFOIL을 사용하여 공력천이현상을 포함한 저 레이놀즈수 익형 공력특성 자료 확보를 기반으로 3차원 양력선 이론을 사용하여 공력해석 연구를 수행했다. 구조해석은 상용소프트웨어 ANSYS를 사용하여 구조변형이나 응력해석 연구를 수행했다. 단방향 공력-구조 연계해석 결과를 바탕으로 인간동력 항공기 주 날개의 형상설계 연구를 수행했다.

• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.7 no.4
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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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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.419-436
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• 2003

Large-eddy simulations of the flow around a circular cylinder at a Reynolds number, based on cylinder diameter and free-stream velocity, $Re_D=2{\times}10^4$ are presented. Three different dynamic subgrid-scale models are used, viz. the dynamic eddy-viscosity model and two different mixed two-parameter models. The sensitivity to grid refinement in the spanwise and radial directions is systematically investigated. For the highest resolution considered, the effects of subgrid-scale modeling are also discussed in detail. In particular, it is shown that SGS modeling has a significant influence on the low-frequency modulations of the aerodynamics loads, which are related to significant changes in the near wake structure.