Evaluación estructural de propelas de propulsión para vehículos aéreos no tripulados de tamaño mediano mediante el método de elementos finitos

Abstract

In the following document, different propeller alternatives were evaluated for the propulsion system of a mid-sized blended wing body (BWB) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through a series of aerodynamic and structural numerical analyses using finite element analysis (FEA). The study starts off with the determination of the propulsive requirements of a specific UAV from its geometry and operation conditions. These requirements were used as design parameters in determining different propeller configurations that are able to provide and generate enough lift to elevate the UAV to its operating height and efficiently maintain it in sustained flight during cruise condition. These geometries were modeled in order to subsequently develop CFD numerical analyses that were useful to determine the aerodynamic loads acting on the propeller during cruise flight condition. Through a system coupling between the CFD component and a structural component in ANSYS, these aerodynamic loads were imported in order to determine the stresses acting over the structure and evaluate the structural integrity of the propeller for the imposed flight condition. Finally, the stress and efficiency results were compared for the different propeller configurations.