• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2020

Personal air vehicle (PAV) is considered by aviation engineers as a solution to provide fast urban mobility. The purpose of designing a optionally piloted PAV (OPPAV) is to provide an individual air vehicle. The airframe structure is designed with high strength carbon fiber composite to reduce the aircraft weight. This paper presents an overview of sizing process for OPPAV at the conceptual design level. It consists of load analysis, structural sizing and development of efficient design allowable values for composite material. The weight is estimated based on sizing process, including strength and stiffness requirements. The objective of this study is to present a overview of structural sizing procedure and fast tool for preliminary design phases.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.859-870
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• 2021

KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) is developing a design framework for the concept and preliminary design of eVTOL aircrafts. A low fidelity mission analysis tool was developed for the eVTOL aircrafts of Lift-Tilt Concept, which have tilt propellers and lift propellers, using open source SUAVE package. For its development, a review for the propeller performance analysis functionality was made. To find the trim solution at each mission segment automatically, an algorithm is implemented, using a global optimization technique through parallel processings and DOE(design of experiment). Using the tool, the one seated eVTOL OPPAV(optionally piloted personal air vehicle) was modeled and evaluated, which results were compared with the preliminary design data.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

Wind tunnel test for a small scale electric ducted fan with a 104mm diameter was conducted to analyze the aerodynamic characteristics when it was used as a propulsion system of tilt-propeller UAV. Experimental conditions were derived from flight conditions of a sub-scaled OPPAV. Forces and moments of the ducted fan model were measured by a 6-axis balance and 3-dimensional wake vectors which could induce an aerodynamic influence in the vehicle were measured by 5-hole probes. Thrust and torque on hover and cruise conditions were measured and analyzed to drive out the operating conditions when it was applied in the sub-scaled OPPAV. On transition conditions, thrust keep its value with tilt angle variation below 40° and increase after that. But, sideforce increase constantly until 75°. The maximum axial velocity in the wake on hover and cruise conditions was around 60m/s and tangential velocity was around 12m/s. The position of the maximum axial velocity and vortex center move off the fan rotation center line as the tilt angle increases.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.593-599
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• 2021

The demand for e-VTOL aircraft is expected to be increased rapidly in the future as a means of urban transportation due to operating cost reduction, eco-friendliness and convenience of vertical take-off and landing using pilot-aids automation system. However, there are many technical hurdles to be solved in securing safety and certification which are essential for commercialization and urban operation. So far, there is no e-VTOL aircraft that has received type certificate and standard airworthiness certificate due to the technical problems and safety requirement differences with conventional aircraft. The e-VTOL aircraft certification should also meet the equivalent level of safety required by the current airworthiness standards, but there are existing problems in securing safety and meeting current standards. In this study, the e-VTOL's certification problems and technical limitations in satisfying the current standards are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.107-120
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• 2021

Electric-powered distributed propulsion aircraft possess a complex wake flow and mutual interference with the airframe, due to the use of many propellers. Accordingly, in the early design stage, rapid aerodynamic and load analysis considering the effect of propellers for various configurations and flight conditions are required. In this study, an efficient panel-based aerodynamic analysis method that can take into account the propeller effects is developed and validated. The induced velocity field in the region of propeller wake is calculated based on Actuator Disk Theory (ADT) and is considered as the boundary condition at the vehicle's surface in the three-dimensional steady source-doublet panel method. Analyses are carried out by selecting an isolated propeller of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI)'s Quad Tilt Propeller (QTP) aircraft and the propeller-wing configuration of the former experimental study as benchmark problems. Through comparisons with the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based on actuator methods, the wake velocity of propeller and the changes in the aerodynamic load distribution of the wing due to the propeller operation are validated. The method is applied to the analysis of the Optional Piloted Personal Aerial Vehicle (OPPAV) and QTP, and the practicality and validity of the method are confirmed through comparison and analysis of the computational time and results with CFD.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2021

In this study, as part of the development of an autonomous flying personal aircraft, an equivalent model of the main wing assembly of an Optionally Piloted Personal Air Vehicle (OPPAV) was developed. Reliability of the developed equivalent model was verified by eigenvalue analysis. The main wing assembly consisted of a main wing, an inboard pod, and an outboard pod. First, for developing an equivalent model of each component, components to produce the equivalent model were divided into several sections. Nodes were then created on the axis of the equivalent model at both ends of each section. In addition, static analysis with unit force and unit moment was performed to calculate the deformation or the amount of rotation at the node to be used in the equivalent model. Equivalent axial, bending, and torsional stiffness of each section were calculated by applying the beam theory. Once the equivalent stiffness of each section was calculated, information of a mass and moment of inertia for each section was entered by creating a lumped mass in the center of each section. An equivalent model was developed using beam element. Finally, the reliability of the developed equivalent model was verified by comparison with results of mode analysis of the fine model.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.47 no.12
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• pp.831-840
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• 2019

Flush Air Data Sensing system (FADS) estimates air data states using pressure data measured at the surface of flight vehicles. The FADS system does not require intrusive probes, so it is suitable for high performance aircrafts, stealth vehicles, and hypersonic flight vehicles. In this study, calibration procedures and solution algorithms of the FADS for a sphere-cone shape vehicle are presented for the prediction of air data from subsonic to supersonic flights. Five flush pressure ports are arranged on the surface of nose section in order to measure surface pressure data. The algorithm selects the concept of separation for the prediction of flow angles and the prediction of pressure related variables, and it uses the pressure model which combines the potential flow solution for a subsonic flow with the modified Newtonian flow theory for a hypersonic flow. The CFD code which solves Euler equations is developed and used for the construction of calibration pressure data in the Mach number range of 0.5~3.0. Tests are conducted with various flight conditions for flight Mach numbers in the range of 0.6~3.0 and flow angles in the range of -10°~+10°. Air data such as angle of attack, angle of sideslip, Mach number, and freestream static pressure are predicted and their accuracies are analyzed by comparing predicted data with reference data.