Evaluation of the determination of the aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller for an unmanned aerial vehicle through numerical modeling and 3D scanning

Аuthors

Ismagilov F. R., Vavilov V. E.^*, Mustaev E. I.^**, Urazbakhtin R. R., Kilmetov R. A.

Ufa University of Science and Technology, 32, Zaki Walidi str., Ufa, 450076, Russia

*e-mail: s2_88@mail.ru
**e-mail: edgar.mustaev@mail.ru

Abstract

The article evaluates the effectiveness of the methodology for the aerodynamic characteristics determining of a multirotor-type unmanned aerial vehicle based on a computational experiment with the creation of a geometry model using 3D scanning methods. The methodology effectiveness evaluation was performed according to the criteria of accuracy and labor intensity through validation based on publicly available data. By the computational experiment was meant the three-dimensional numerical modeling performing using computational fluid dynamics methods in the STAR CCM+ application software package. The simulation was performed by solving a system of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, closed by the SST k-ω turbulence model and the ideal gas model. The propulsor rotation was modeled by the method of a single rotating frame of reference. The DJI Phantom 3 9450 Plastic direct rotation propeller was chosen as the object of numerical simulation. To scan the propeller, a desktop 3D scanner Shining 3D EinScan-SP V2, based on structured light technology with an object digitization accuracy not exceeding a deviation value of 50 microns, was applied. The aerodynamic characteristics computing of a rotating propeller, as well as determining the time-stable gas dynamic parameters of flows in the environment surrounding the propulsor, were performed in a hovering mode in the range of its operating rotational speeds. A total of 14 rotational speeds were numerically studied.
By the results of validation, maximum and minimum deviations of the calculated values from the experimental ones were found for the entire studied range of rotational speeds according to the moment of resistance, equal respectively to 8.229 and 0.295%. Similarly, the maximum and minimum thrust deviations were 7.658 and 3.306%, respectively. The differences between the calculated and experimental values of the moment of resistance increases with increasing rotational speed. The differences in thrust for most of the studied rotational speeds are in the range from 3 to 5%.
To perform computations, 16 cores of 2 threads with a clock frequency of 4.8 GHz were employed. The time сconsumption for achieving convergence of the solution was of the order of 8 hours for one rotational speed under study. Convergence was being achieved in 800 iterations at an average. Thus, 112 hours of machine time were spent to obtain the aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller for 14 rotational speeds.

Keywords:

aerodynamic characteristics; numerical modeling; 3D scanning; propeller; validation; unmanned aerial vehicle

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