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Prediction of wing rock in fixed wing micro aerial vehicles

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Abstract

Wing rock is a complex phenomenon that occurs as a result of the system’s inherent aerodynamic nonlinearities and is dominant only in the roll motion. It has been intensively investigated on heavily swept delta wings, but limited work has been done on rectangular wings, which are becoming increasingly popular in micro aerial vehicles. This research investigates the wing rock features of a rectangular wing using experimental, numerical, and analytical approaches. Initially, free-to-roll wind tunnel tests using an air bearing-based apparatus are performed. Then, a validated numerical method based on solving the three-dimensional incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations is utilized in three different approaches: the static tests, the unsteady forced roll tests, and the unsteady free-to-roll tests. Both unsteady approaches are compared, and the flow-field analysis is done with Liutex, a novel vortex identification method. Afterward, using numerical simulation data, an analytical method based on multiple time scales is modeled and the stability properties are determined using bifurcation analysis. The experimental and numerical results are in good agreement. The findings show that the separation bubble’s movement and interaction with the wingtip vortices are crucial in inducing the wing rock phenomenon in rectangular wings.

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Data availibility statement

The data that supports the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

AR :

Aspect ratio

\(Re_c\) :

Reynold’s Number based on reference chord

\(C_p\) :

Pressure coefficient

\(\phi\) :

Roll angle (deg)

\({\dot{\phi }}\) :

Roll rate (deg/s)

\(\ddot{\phi }\) :

Rotational acceleration (deg/s\(^{2}\))

\(I_{xx}\) :

Moment of inertia, roll (kg.m\(^{2}\))

L :

Rolling moment (N.m)

\(p\) :

Roll rate (rad/s)

\(\beta\) :

Angle of sideslip (deg)

\({\dot{\beta }}\) :

Rate of sideslip angle (deg/s)

\(L_p\) :

Rolling moment derivative with respect to roll rate

\(L_\beta\) :

Rolling moment derivative with respect to side-slip angle

\(L_{{\dot{\beta }}}\) :

Rolling moment derivative with respect to the rate of side-slip angle

b :

Full span (m)

\(c_r\) :

Root chord (m)

\(\tau\) :

Non-dimensional time step based on reference chord

\(\alpha\) :

Angle of attack (°)

\(f\) :

Frequency (Hz)

2y/b :

Perpendicular distance from the model normalized by half span

2z/b :

Spanwise distance from the model center normalized by half span

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the technical assistance provided by the Main Aircraft Lab at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Moreover, the computing resource used in this research was from Computational Aeronautics Lab, School of Interdisciplinary Engineering and Sciences, NUST, Pakistan.

Funding

This research was funded by Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance (BRAIA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Interdisciplinary Engineering and Sciences, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    Waseeq Siddiqui, Aamir Sultan & Adnan Maqsood

  2. College of Aeronautical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Risalpur, 24090, Pakistan

    Shuaib Salamat

  3. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Hongyi Xu

  4. School of Astronautics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, People’s Republic of China

    Dan Xie

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  1. Waseeq Siddiqui
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Correspondence to Adnan Maqsood.

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Siddiqui, W., Sultan, A., Maqsood, A. et al. Prediction of wing rock in fixed wing micro aerial vehicles. Meccanica 58, 739–754 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-023-01649-2

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