Tomasz Goetzendorf-Grabowski

MALE UAV design of an increased reliability level

Purpose – This study seeks to present the initial requirements for medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAV design of an increased reliability.Design/methodology/approach – Shows and describes the successive design phases of PW‐103 MALE UAV.Findings – The analysis of the performances of the PW‐103 UAV, powered by either a main or an auxiliary engine, demonstrated that auxiliary power unit improved flight safety significantly.Originality/value – Successive MALE UAV configurations developed in the design process were aerodynamically more efficient than their predecessors.

Stability analysis in conceptual design using SDSA tool

Paper presents the application of the SDSA (Simulation and Dynamic Stability Analysis) software in analysis of the dynamic characteristics of an aircraft just during conceptual design stage. SDSA is the part of CEASIOM package (Computerized Environment for Aircraft Synthesis and Integrated Optimization Methods), which is the main achievement of the SimSAC project (Simulating Aircraft Stability And Control Characteristics for Use in Conceptual Design) sponsored by the European Commission 6 th Framework Program. However SDSA can be used separately and tailored to work with other design/optimization systems by use the so-called wrappers. Paper focus on the main functionalities of the presented tool. Some computational results used to validate the software are presented.

Aerodynamic calculation of unmanned aircraft

Purpose – To provide an effective numerical method for analysis and design of aerodynamic characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles basing on commercial package VSAERO.Design/methodology/approach – Calculation was made by VSAERO package, which is based on a classical panel method enhanced on boundary layer method. Paper explains how to use efficiently VSAERO package, which utilizes advanced CAD techniques, in modern designing of unmanned aircraft.Findings – During aerodynamic analysis of unmanned aircraft the computing cycle is repeated many times until the required accuracy is obtained and when the best performance of an aircraft is achieved. Design process depends on the number of iterations. If the preliminary configuration (the so‐called starting design point) is well selected and the aerodynamic analysis is completed in a relatively short time, then the overall design time will be shortened.Research limitations/implications – The panel method is very useful tool in spite of different limitations. F...

Rapid geometry definition for multidisciplinary design and analysis of an aircraft

Conceptual and preliminary design level of aircraft design is searching for an easy, flexible and efficient way of computational geometry definition. Accelerating the process of geometry definition is the basic step for acceleration of all computations. It also enables optimization, where changes of numerical model are made automatically according to the optimization algorithms. The geometry definition has to be robust, free from errors and stay feasible.

Multi-disciplinary optimization in aeronautical engineering

Nowadays, optimization is a very popular tool used to improve existing projects. The optimization covers different disciplines by linking them into multidisciplinary process of design. Existing software tools allow to very effectively solve particular problems giving high quality solutions which were previously very hard to achieve. Aeronautical engineering is a domain/field which links many disciplines: aerodynamics, stability, control, structural analysis, materials, propulsion systems, avionics, etc. Therefore, the multidisciplinary optimization results in very significant progress not only in aircraft design but also in air transport, which links technical aspects with economical questions. The paper presents selected aspects of using the multidisciplinary optimization in aeronautical engineering with special focus on multidisciplinary aircraft design.

Virtual Aircraft Design and Control of TransCruiser - A Canard Configuration

In aircraft design, methods for rapid aerodata assessment and data screening at early stages are instrumentalin reducing development cost and first-time-right processes. New efficient tools for the analysis can easethe transition as the traditional and rigidly structured sequential design process gives way to a concurrentmulti-disciplinary process with the compressed time-span required in the competition for market shares. The CEASIOM-SUMO-EDGE software suite provides a way from initial sizing to stability and control design andassessment, including effects of aero-elasticity. CEASIOM ongoing and further development is driven by user needs, and the thesis reports on fourdifferent design and analysis cases which required enhancement of CEASIOM in several respects. The validation study on the B-747 with its multitude of control surfaces required generalizationof control surface definition and modeling. The clean-sheet design of the TransCruiser Mach 0.97passenger transport required compilation, fusion, and screening of aerodynamics data from many sourcesand in different formats. The DanBus and the asymmetrical twin-prop pusher-puller configuration required translationof geometry representation and development of simple propeller models in the automatic meshgeneration and CFD analysis. The way forward is provided by adoption of common data formats and geometry (and structural, etc.)modeling conventions. To this end the current proprietary XML format should be replaced by a more generalXML system such as CPACS under development at DLR which will be made public in the near future.

Design of UAV for photogrammetric mission in Antarctic area

The history of UAVs is relatively long and many such vehicles are in service for different tasks. They can be used even in environments inhospitable for humans, e.g. because of extreme temperature. Moreover, they can perform a task that is difficult or impossible for a manned aircraft because of its size and usually relatively high airspeed. The photogrammetric tasks belong to this group, especially if we need to take high-resolution pictures during low level flight. The advantages of a small UAV for such mission are more evident if we want to investigate the natural environment, where the wild animals are. The paper presents the small UAV designed for a special task, which is counting of the penguins in Antarctica. Inhabited area, extreme weather conditions, the fearfulness of penguins and the goal of the mission put up certain requirements for the UAV. It had to be a reliable, stable platform, which is able to carry photogrammetric equipment and to perform precise flight to cover all investigated areas. The presented UAV was used on such missions in Antarctica in 2014 and 2015. All mentioned tasks were successfully accomplished.

Three surface aircraft (TSA) configuration – flying qualities evaluation

Purpose Unconventional configuration aircrafts are not often designed because of many problems, mainly with stability and trim. However, they could be very promising. The problems can be compensated by extraordinary performance and some flying characteristics. The three-surface aircraft, presented in the paper, is such a configuration – problems and profits are both present, but advantages seem to be more prevalent. This paper aims to present main assumptions for a new, three-surfaces aircraft design, its evaluation according to flying quality requirements and the discussion on selected performance characteristics. The paper completes with the first experimental results of flight tests of a 40 per cent scaled model. Design/methodology/approach Aerodynamic computations were made using panel method code (KK-AERO, PANUKL). Stability analysis was done using SDSA package, developed within the SimSAC project. Findings Initial design assumptions and numerical analysis results were proven during flight tests. Practical implications The paper contains results of numerical analysis, which were crucial in designing the layout of the new, three-surface aircraft. Originality/value This paper presents an original approach to design a new, unconventional aircraft. The approach and results could be useful in other projects.

Aerodynamic and stability analysis of personal vehicle in tandem-wing configuration

The paper presents a concept of tandem-wing configuration aircraft that was a Warsaw University of Technology proposal for the personal air transport system. The project was developed at Warsaw University of Technology, within the PPLANE project (FP7 – Personal Plane: Assessment and Validation of Pioneering Concepts for Personal Air Transport Systems). First, analysis of the general concept, advantages and disadvantages of tandem-wing configuration, and possible application as a personal air transport system vehicle are presented. Next, aerodynamic design is analyzed and dynamic stability is tested. All numerical analyses were made by use of the well-tested professional software for aerodynamic (MGAERO) and stability (SDSA) analyses.

Common computational model for coupling panel method with finite element method

Purpose Conceptual and preliminary aircraft concepts are getting mature earlier in the design process, than ever before. To achieve that advanced level of maturity, multiple multidisciplinary analyses have to be done, often with usage of numerical optimization algorithms. This calls for right tools that can handle such a demanding task. Often the toughest part of a modern design is handling an aircraft’s computational models used for different analysis. Transferring geometry and loads from one program to another, or modifying internal structure, takes time and is not productive. Authors defined the concept of a common computational model (CCM), which couples programs from different aerospace scientific disciplines. Data exchange between the software components is compatible, and multidisciplinary analysis can be automated to high degree, including numerical optimization. Design/methodology/approach The panel method was applied to aerodynamic analysis and was coupled with open-source FEM code within one computational process. Findings The numerical results proved the effectiveness of developed methodology. Practical implications Developed software can be used within the design process of a new aircraft. Originality/value This paper presents an original approach for advanced numerical analysis, as well as for multidisciplinary optimization of an aircraft. The presented results show possible applications.