Otimização aerodinâmica e estrutural de asas de elevado alongamento para veículos aéreos não tripulados

Abstract

Recently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with high aspect ratio wings that flies at high altitudes have become the focus of the current technological development. Missions such as border monitoring, telecommunications, detection of geological phenomena, and others that were previously carried out by satellites are in the process of being replaced by the use of UAVs, which have a lower operating cost and can take off and land according to the mission requirements. In this work, the wing geometry and operational parameters are optimized in order to find the optimal wing shape for maximum endurance and maximum range conditions. For the aerodynamic evaluation, the Multhopp Method was used to calculate the lift coefficients and wing loads. Three wing formats were analyzed: rectangular, tapered and bi-tapered. Its geometric parameters were optimized, maintaining the same planform area. The analyses focused on evaluate both aerodynamic and structural performance for a more efficient design that meets flight requirements. The results presented showed significant gains in performance, in terms of endurance and range, in the tapered and bi-tapered wings when compared to rectangular wings, and are promising for the design of high aspect ratio wings to be applied in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)