The Open Aerospace Engineering Journal

2012, 5 : 11-21
Published online 2012 November 01. DOI: 10.2174/1874146001205010011
Publisher ID: TOAEJ-5-11

A Computational Study on the Aerodynamic Influence of a Propeller on an MAV by Unstructured Overset Grid Technique and Low Mach Number Preconditioning

S. Deng , B. W. van Oudheusden , T. Xiao and H. Bijl
Kluyverweg 2, 2629 HT Delft, P.O. Box 5058, 2600GA Delft, The Netherlands.

ABSTRACT

The influence of a propeller on the aerodynamic performance of an MAV is investigated using an unstructured overset grid technique. The flow regime of a fixed-wing MAV powered by a propeller contains both incompressible regions due to the low flight speed, as well as compressible flow areas near the propeller-tip region. In order to simulate all speed flow efficiently, a dual-time preconditioning method is employed in the present study. The methodology in this paper is verified as providing a reliable numerical simulation tool for all flow regimes, in the additional presence of moving boundaries, which is treated with an overset grid approach.

Keywords:

All speed flow, preconditioning, micro air vehicle.