• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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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.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.271-277
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• 2013

This article reports the drag reduction phenomenon of aqueous suspensions containing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) flowing through horizontal tubes. Stable nanofluids were prepared by using a surfactant. It is found that the drag forces of CNT nanofluids were reduced at specific flow conditions compared to the base fluid. It is found that the friction factor of CNT nanofluids was reduced up to approximately 30 % by using CNT nanofluids. Increased kinematic viscosities of CNT nanofluids are suggested to the key factors that cause the drag reduction phenomenon. In addition, transition from laminar to turbulent flow is observed to be delayed when CNT nanofluids flow in a horizontal tube, meaning that drag reduction occurs at higher flow rates, that is, at higher Reynolds numbers.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.221-229
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• 2013

To achieve the best performance, the concept of drag reduced and power increased Human Power Aircraft(HPA) was presented by analyzing the HPAs in the world. To participate the '2012 HPA competition' in Korea, the streamlined fuselage and the simultaneous use of hands and feet were introduced. Furthermore the CFD analysis and power unit design were performed to verify the concept. In order to make the best use of streamlined fuselage effect, the fuselage shape design is important and to supply the hand power to the power unit, the control system design is important, also the test flight is required for validation.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.1712-1718
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• 2014

Experimental analysis according to the plasma actuator design variables was performed in order to verify the effects of sliding discharge plasma on aerodynamic drag reduction of a high-speed train. For the study, sliding discharge plasma actuator and high-frequency, high-voltage power supply were developed and experimented to figure out the best design variables for highest ionic wind velocity which could reduce the drag force. And then, 5% reduced-scale model of a high-speed train was built for wind tunnel test to verify it. From the results, it was confirmed that sliding discharge plasma had contribution to reduce the drag force and it had the potential to be applied to real-scale trains.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.198-204
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• 2016

In this study, a wind tunnel test was conducted to measure the aerodynamic characteristics of a streamline-designed high-speed bus with the change of wind direction and speed and the result is compared with the aerodynamic performance of a commercialized high-speed bus model (Model-0) manufactured by Zyle Daewoo Bus Corp. Aerodynamic performance of the existing rear-spoiler was tested to prove its aerodynamic effect on the test model bus. From the study, it was found that 24.6 % of the total drag of the original bus model (Model-0) was reduced on the streamline-designed model bus(model-1) without the rear-spoiler but only 14.3 % of the total drag was reduced with the spoiler on the streamlined model bus. It means that the rear spoiler does not work properly with the streamlined model bus (model-1) and should be noted that an optimum design of a rear-spoiler of a vehicle is important to reduce the induced pressure drag and increase the driving stability of a vehicle against yaw motion. The experimental outcome was also compared to the previous numerical research result to evaluate the reliability of the numerical algorithm of the aerodynamic performance analysis of a vehicle. The error rate (%) of the numerical result to the experimental output is about 5.4 % and it is due to the simplified body configuration of the numerical model bus. The drag increases at the higher yaw angle because the transparent frontal area of the model vehicle increases and the downward force increases with the yaw angle as well. It has a positive effect to the driving stability of the vehicle but the moderated downward force should be kept for the fuel economy of a vehicle.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.66-71
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• 2014

Aerodynamic design of a vehicle has very important meaning on the fuel economy, dynamic stability and the noise & vibration of a moving vehicle. In this study, the correlation of aerodynamic effect between two model vehicles moving inline on a road was studied with the basic SAE model vehicle. Drag and lift are two main physical forces acting on the vehicle and both of them directly effect on the fuel economy and driving stability of the vehicle. For the research, the distance between two vehicles is varied from 5m to 30m at the fixed vehicle speed, 100km/h and the side-wind was assumed to be zero. The main issue for this numerical research is on the understanding of the interaction forces; lift and drag between two vehicles formed inline. From the study, it was found that as the distance between two vehicles is closer, the drag force acting on both the front and rear vehicle decreases and the lift force has same trend for both vehicle. As the distance(D) is 5m, the drag of the front vehicle reduced 7.4% but 28.5% for the rear-side vehicle. As the distance is 30m, the drag of the rear vehicle is still reduced to 22% compared to the single driving.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2013

The effect of modifying the shape of a high-performance EMU train on the aerodynamic drag is studied here using Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) based on three dimensional Steady-state Navier-Stokes equation and two equation turbulence modeling. FLUENT 12 and Gambit 2.4.6 are employed for a numerical simulation of the aerodynamic drag of a streamlined-shape train as well as a proto type train. The characteristics of the aerodynamic drag of trains in tunnels are analyzed in a comparison with these characteristics in an open space. The contribution of the aerodynamic drag of each case is also investigated to establish principal pertaining to drag reduction for urban trains in tunnels. The aerodynamic drag of a streamlined train was reduced to 9.8% relative to a proto-type train with a blunt nose and a protruding roof facility and underbody shape: the running resistance is expected to be reduced by as much as 4% at a running speed of 80km/h.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.527-535
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• 2019

Hanger in a rail-launched missile protrudes in general and causes to increase significant drag force. One method to avoid the significant increase of drag force is to apply fairings on the hanger. In this paper, sloping shaped fairing parameters of height, width, and length are optimized to minimize the drag force under subsonic speed region by examining three configurations of fairings : front-fairing only, rear-faring only, and the both front and rear fairing. We use Latin Hypercube Sampling method to determine the experimental points, and computational fluid dynamics with incompressible RANS solver was applied to acquire the data at sampling points. Then, we construct a meta model by kriging method. We find the best choice among three configurations examined : both front and rear fairing reduce the drag force by 63 % without the constraint of fairing mass, and front fairing reduced the drag force by 52 % with the constraint of hanger mass.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.8-13
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• 2013

Drag reduction of a running vehicle is very important issue for the energy savings and emission reduction of its power train. Especially for a solar powered electric vehicle, the drag reduction and weight lightening are two serious problems to be solved to extend its driving distance under the given energy condition. In this study, the ground effect of an airfoil shaped road vehicle was studied for an optimum body design of an ultra-light solar powered electric vehicle. Clark-Y airfoil type was adopted to the body shape of the model vehicle to reduce aerodynamic drag. From the study, it was found that the drag of the model vehicle was reduced as the height(h) between ground and the lower surface of the model vehicle was decreased. It is due to the reduction of the down-wash decreasing the induced drag of the vehicle. The lift was also decreased as the height decreased. It is due to the turbulent boundary layer developed beneath the vehicle body. The drag is classified into two types; the form and friction drag. The fraction of form drag to friction one is 76 to 24 on the model vehicle. As the height(h) of the model vehicle from the ground surface increases the form drag also increases but the friction drag is in reverse.

• 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.