The objective of this paper is to study the aerodynamic performance of a micro airplane with 16cm chord length, 20cm wingspan, aspect ratio 1.25, and 200-250gw weight. The CFD software package was adopted for calculating the 3-D aerodynamic properties and simulating the flow-field of a micro airplane's Clark Y-type wing. This was in order to understand the problems encountered in the low aspect ratio and low Reynolds-number conditions. During this study counter-circulation phenomena; flow will have separation and reattachment to form so called "bubble" phenomena would occur when the angle of attack reach ±10°. In the 3-D cases, the lift coefficient with a vertical tail's slope will be slightly greater than that without a vertical rudder. The trend of the lift coefficient observed in the water-tunnel experiment matched that of the numerically calculated results. Also in the flow-field visualization, the dye will separate from the airfoil surface at two-thirds of the chord length and counter-circulation phenomena will occur. After the fixed wing design and aerodynamic analysis, a CAD/CAE/CAM module window platform is established as well.
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