Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of a Box-Wing System for Mars Atmosphere Exploration

Aeronautical and Space-Rocket Engineering


Аuthors

Gueraiche D. *, Kulakov I. F.**, Tolkachev M. A.***

Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), 4, Volokolamskoe shosse, Moscow, А-80, GSP-3, 125993, Russia

*e-mail: d.gueraiche@mai.ru
**e-mail: olimp20152016@gmail.com
***e-mail: express636@mail.ru

Abstract

The article deals with the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) intended for the flight in the atmosphere of Mars, and studies its layout, aerodynamic characteristics and structure. This work is up-to-date since the box-wing layout is rather prospective for the small-size collapsing UAVs. The purpose of the article consists in characteristics assessment of the UAV operating under low Reynolds numbers conditions.

The authors performed generalization of the results of interdisciplinary studies of the box-wing system developed for the flight in the atmosphere of Mars.

An important advantage of this arrangement is compactness of its lifting surface and the possibility of its placement in the touchdown module of a launch vehicle. The article considers several flow-around modes and assesses the stress-strain state of a hypothetic structure of the wing.

A fixed-wing UAV is one of the potential options for the aerial exploration of Mars. Unlike previous rovers, such UAV is capable of exploring large areas and collecting information that is more detailed on the planet surface without limits by the local Mars landscape. A possible means of delivering the UAV into the Martian atmosphere may be a rocket-launched capsule; to be placed in the capsule, the wing cantilever should have a foldable design, which, in turn, imposes a limitation on the maximum possible wing area. The UAV lifting surfaces design is represented by a high aspect ratio box-diamond-shaped wing, to provide the vehicle with the required lifting force under conditions of the low-density Martian atmosphere. It has no aerodynamic twist angle. Eight and six cylindrical engine nacelles with an ogive front are mounted on the front and rear wings, respectively.

The wingtips are accomplished a large engine nacelles as well. All in all, the said UAV can be equipped with a distributed power plant of sixteen engines. An S-shaped fuselage of variable diameter is being employed to space the consoles into different planes in height and reduce the negative effect of rear wing shading. The nose part of the fuselage is thickened to accommodate the research equipment.

The results of the presented work consist in revealing aerodynamic characteristics of the selected layout analyzing the stress-strain state of the developed structural set of the wing.

Keywords:

box-wing UAV, Martian atmosphere, Ishii airfoil, low Reynolds number, gas flow - structure interaction

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