Aerodynamic optimization of a morphing UAV with variable sweep and variable span

摘要

This paper first summarizes the development history of a morphing flight vehicle. By using a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a baseline, the structure and mechanism of a morphing UAV with variable sweep and variable span are designed. In order to get optimum aerodynamic configuration considering constrains of structures, an integrated optimization frame including design of the experiment, parametric modelling, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) automation and a Kriging agent model is developed. Pareto front and optimum aerodynamic configuration with multi objects are generated by using genetic algorithm. As shown by the optimized results, the lift-to-drag ratios at two typical states are enhanced by 9.7% and 6.0% respectively and the change of static stability is reduced by 18.2% after morphing.