Submersible Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: Configuration Design and Analysis Based on Computational Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

Submersible aerial vehicle is capable of both flying in the air and submerging in the water. Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) outlined a challenging set of requirements for a submersible aircraft and solicited innovative research proposals on submersible aircraft since 2008. In this paper, a conceptual configuration design scheme of submersible unmanned aerial vehicle is proposed. This submersible UAV lands on the surface of water, then adjusts its own density to entry water. On the contrary, it emerges from water by adjusting its own density and then takes off from the surface of water. Wing of the UAV is whirling wing. It is set along aircraft’s fuselage while submerging for lift reduction. We analysis aerodynamic and hydrodynamic performance of this UAV by CFD method, especially compare the hydrodynamic performance of the whirling wing configuration and normal configuration. It turns out that whirling wing is beneficial for submerging. This result proves that the configuration design scheme proposed in this paper is feasible and suitable for a submersible unmanned aerial vehicle.