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Nirmala T., Maitreya J. S.
This paper deals with the design of a Box-Wing UAV from scratch and comparing it with a conventional UAV using only simulation results. Constraints such as volumetric, payload capacity and flight velocity were defined. Detailed design process was initiated by selecting the type of airfoil through Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) trade-off. This continued with the design of wing and winglets using the software tool XFLR5. Static and dynamic analyses were performed and this process repeated until optimal design was obtained. These satisfactory results paved way for the fabrication of box wing. The best airfoil for the box wing was found to be MH78. The static stability was achieved with a margin of 25%. The drag coefficient of conventional plane was found higher at 4.70e-2 than that of the box wing plane which is 1.17e-2. Using CFD analysis the lift was found to 6.97N and the drag was found to be 1.93N. The wing structure was designed using balsa wood ribs and carbon fibre spars. On conditions of loading, maximum stress was found to be 29.55 MPa which was well within the permissible level for the selected material. The plane successfully met the criteria of load test and drop tests. A concrete procedure is developed for the design and fabrication of box winged micro UAV. As a future scope, theoretical estimation of the aircraft performance is suggested. Upon satisfactory evidence of stable performance over expected operational domain, a prototype can be built, tested and validated.
Fabrication, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Oswald’s efficiency factor, Reflexed Airfoil, Box Wing, AHP trade-off, Wing design.