Aerodynamic analysis and static stability analysis of Manned/unmanned distributed propulsion aircrafts using actuator methods

The development of personal aerial vehicles (PAVs) using electric power distributed propulsion methods is rapidly growing. As the aerodynamic performance and flight stability characteristics can be significantly affected by multiple-propeller operation, aerodynamic analysis reflecting the power-on effect is required for design/ development. Simulating all propellers using the general computational fluid dynamics is inefficient in terms of computational time and cost. Therefore, this study evaluates the practicality of actuator methods in the aerodynamic analysis of two aircrafts with multiple propellers: a quad tilt propeller (QTP) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an optionally piloted personal air vehicle (OPPAV) of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The normal and side forces generated by the propellers under various angle of attack and sideslip angle conditions are found to be the most contributing factors to the deterioration in the aircraft longitudinal and directional static stabilities, respectively. The forces and moments generated by the propellers are found to make both longitudinal and directional stabilities of the QTP UAV unstable. However, the OPPAV appears to remain stable state even with the operating propellers. We conclude that actuator methods, being computationally efficient in terms of cost, time, and accuracy, possess great potential for aerodynamic analysis in various related industries.