Airfoil and Wing Planform Optimization for Micro Air Vehicles
Abstract
The response surface method has been used to investigate and identify optimal wing geometries providing minimum power consumption for low Reynolds number flight vehicles. In all cases, optimization provided only a modest improvement in the flight power requirement. However, some insight was gained into particular trends concerning low-Reynolds-number, low-aspect-ratio wing design. As anticipated, the wing thickness should be minimized. The results of Table 6 suggest that optimal airfoils change very little with changes in wing aspect ratio. Investigations into how the optimal airfoil changes with spanwise location revealed that the best wing had a constant cross-section with 5% camber oriented at 5 angle-of-attack. The optimal airfoil is not strongly coupled to the wing planform since it does not change much with changes in aspect ratio or with location on the wing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADP010523
Entities
People
- J. G. Sloan
- R. T. Haftka
- W. Shyy
Organizations
- University of Florida