TY - GEN
T1 - Conceptual and numerical analysis of active wingtip vortex cancellation in propeller-driven electric aircraft
AU - Sharpe, Peter
AU - Agarwal, Ramesh K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - As battery and electric motor technology continues to advance rapidly, propeller-driven electric aircraft are likely to become a significant part of the aviation market in the near future. One proposed design configuration for electric aircraft involves using large, wingtip-mounted propellers to actively cancel wingtip vortices, a method called active wingtip vortex cancellation (AWVC). By reclaiming part of the kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost to tip vortex formation, drag is decreased. In addition, the induced spanwise flow and upwash from the propeller causes the spanwise lift distribution to remain more uniform at the wingtips, increasing lift. Previous wind tunnel testing of this configuration indicated a significant increase in lift and decrease in drag, particularly in low-aspect-ratio configurations. This paper builds on that research by examining several test cases with a 3D, transient, viscous, sliding mesh CFD analysis in an effort to validate numerical methods for future conceptual design studies. In addition, many practical considerations regarding the implementation of this design are analyzed. Geometry from the aforementioned wind tunnel literature was reconstructed and analyzed. CFD indicated that an 18.1% increase in lift and 5.1% increase in net thrust was possible solely through the phenomenon of AWVC. Furthermore, this CFD analysis matched wind tunnel data to within approximately 1%, validating the CFD approach for the analysis of more exotic configurations involving active wingtip vortex cancellation.
AB - As battery and electric motor technology continues to advance rapidly, propeller-driven electric aircraft are likely to become a significant part of the aviation market in the near future. One proposed design configuration for electric aircraft involves using large, wingtip-mounted propellers to actively cancel wingtip vortices, a method called active wingtip vortex cancellation (AWVC). By reclaiming part of the kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost to tip vortex formation, drag is decreased. In addition, the induced spanwise flow and upwash from the propeller causes the spanwise lift distribution to remain more uniform at the wingtips, increasing lift. Previous wind tunnel testing of this configuration indicated a significant increase in lift and decrease in drag, particularly in low-aspect-ratio configurations. This paper builds on that research by examining several test cases with a 3D, transient, viscous, sliding mesh CFD analysis in an effort to validate numerical methods for future conceptual design studies. In addition, many practical considerations regarding the implementation of this design are analyzed. Geometry from the aforementioned wind tunnel literature was reconstructed and analyzed. CFD indicated that an 18.1% increase in lift and 5.1% increase in net thrust was possible solely through the phenomenon of AWVC. Furthermore, this CFD analysis matched wind tunnel data to within approximately 1%, validating the CFD approach for the analysis of more exotic configurations involving active wingtip vortex cancellation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083944672&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2514/6.2019-1091
DO - 10.2514/6.2019-1091
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85083944672
SN - 9781624105784
T3 - AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum
BT - AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum
PB - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
T2 - AIAA Scitech Forum, 2019
Y2 - 7 January 2019 through 11 January 2019
ER -