Paper Title
Performance Analysis of Fixed Wing UAV with and without Winglets
Abstract
The study presents the performance analysis, in particular, the aerodynamic performance of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with and without winglets. A fixed wing UAV with an existing winglet configuration (blended winglet configuration) is considered for this study. This default configuration is compared with different configurations (max winglet configuration) while keeping a winglet-less configuration as the base. The analysis is carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods. The Factors considered for comparison in this analysis include Coefficient of lift (CL), Coefficient of drag (CD) and the lift-to-drag ratio (L/D) at different Angles of Attack (AOA). Also, the maximum Range and Endurance that each configuration provides are estimated. This study attempts to use the data to find the availability of justification in using the default configuration and if implementing a new configuration would enhance the UAV’s performance.
Keywords - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Winglets, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Aerodynamics, Range, Endurance