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Application of a unique semi-tailless forward swept configuration aircraft to small UAV’S
Rea, Adam
Rea, Adam
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2023-05
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Developments in manufacturing techniques, and an increased demand for small payload transport, has led to a more widespread use of small UAV’s. This type of aircraft, given its unique payload(s) and flight envelope(s), offers a greater number of viable configurations. Several have been proposed, from quadcopters to blended wing body vehicles, however, little work has been done to explore past large scale aircraft designs that were never brought to market. One such design is the semi-tailless B&V P208 proposed in 1944 as World War II was coming to a close. Application of this design to small UAV’s has been investigated and is not the focus of this thesis, rather, a forward swept modification to this design. The previous work suggested that, in addition to the advantages offered by the original design, the forward swept configuration would eliminate longitudinal instability characteristics and make the aircraft more maneuverable. Using the original B&V proposal as inspiration, trade studies were performed to optimize the forward swept layout, including the addition of a new control surface referred to as a “tip canard”. The configuration was modeled in a conceptual design level vortex lattice solver to determine stability characteristics and predict performance. Wind tunnel and flight testing followed to validate the expected results. These experiments indicated that virtually no gains in stability and maneuverability were achieved, but that the forward swept configuration is applicable to small UAV’s and could yield advantageous results if properly applied.
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Thesis (M.S.)-- Wichita State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Aerospace Engineering
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Wichita State University
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