DELTA WING WITH LEADING EDGE EXTENSION ANDPROPELLER PROPULSION FOR FIXED WING MAV

摘要

Air turbulence is perceived as a major problemfor MAV outdoor applications. It seemsreasonable to use MAVs in these situationsproviding the flow is attached to the controlsurfaces even at high angles of attack. This willensure effective control during turbulence.Delta wings are known to have excellentlarge angle of attack qualities. However,quantitative data about leading edge vortexeffectiveness at low Reynolds numbers were notavailable, so an experiment was undertaken tomeasure them. Generally, the effect appeared tobe similar to that obtained for large aeroplanesincluding advantages of leading edge extensions(LEX). There was no observed negative effect ofLEX/propeller interference. In fact an increaseof stall angle was observed as a result of thepropulsion operation.The following presents force andvisualisation results from a series of MAVconfigurations.