A Computational Investigation of the Hover Mechanism of an Innovated Disc-Shaped VTOL UAV

Abstract

Inventive approaches are constantly being revealed in the field of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) configuration concepts and designs. To date, a body-associated configuration of UAVs for augmented lift remains unclear among other approached designs. The current paper investigates the mechanism of a high-lift ducted fan mounted in the central body for VTOL UAV designs. We report an unresolved design of a disc-shaped UAV with a single rotor that aims to enhance the cost-effectiveness of fuel consumption with a substantial contribution of body lift to hover thrust. The convex upper surface curvature was applied to generate a significant lift contribution from the body during hover. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach based on unstructured discretization followed by three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) flow was applied in ANSYS CFX to mechanistically investigate the underlying design considerations. The disc-shaped UAV uses the lip curvature on the duct inlet to generate a vertical force that demonstrates a significant contribution of 95% of the rotor thrust during hovering. The UAV’s upper surface generates prolonged flow entrainment free from momentum losses in swirling flows. This phenomenon is followed by reduced power consumption in hovering and vertical flight, making the UAV aerodynamically stable and environmentally safe.

Keywords

• computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
• VTOL UAV
• disc-shaped drone
• hover
• vertical flight