Submersible Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Concept Design Study

摘要

A submersible UAV is a hybrid aerial-underwater vehicle which can fly in the air and navigate in the water. Survival in the two contradictory fluids needs particular shape, fuselage and wing structure, propulsion. In this paper, a concept of an amphibious UAV with the air-to-water transition of plunge-diving and the water-to-air transition of vertical take-off from the water surface is proposed. The structure characteristics that are adaptive to both of the air and the water, including the grider erection fuselage and the hollow and no-rib wings for the rapid water injection and drainage to adjust its average density, the foldable device for the wing to fold back to reduce drag in the water, are described and analyzed in detail. The estimation and design of the propulsions for the air and the water voyage and the balloon upright system are introduced. The impact accleration experienced by the whole structure of the UAV is calculated by the CFD method. Finally, the design and performance analysis of the wings are presented. The preliminary work carried out in this paper can provide some feasible proposals for the the ultimate realization of a submersible UAV.