Description:

If you have flown into Wellington, you know about crossflows and windshear: that sudden gust catching the side of the aircraft, causing a discomforting jump for passengers. Now imagine that the aircraft is much, much smaller, and the gusts more frequent. This is the scenario facing small Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which often operate low to the ground and are envisaged as a future means of urban delivery or traffic monitoring. It is critical that we understand the operational limits of these aircraft, to ensure safe and successful operations. Traditional wind tunnel tests are taken with the aircraft facing into the flow, with steady wind conditions. However, this is not representative of the environment experienced by small UAVs.

One such UAV is Kahu, a fixed-wing aircraft with a wingspan of 2.3 m. Using the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel, you will conduct tests to record the forces and moments acting on the aircraft with various crosswinds, replicating the conditions expected in urban flight. This will be used to determine the sensitivity of the aircraft to crosswinds, and define operational limitations for safe flight in urban conditions.

As an Experimental Aerodynamics Project, students should preferably have an enthusiasm for aerodynamics and flight, and like getting hands-on with hardware.

Type:

Undergraduate

Outcome:

By the end of this project, you will be able to:

• Create a suitable wind environment in the wind tunnel.
• Perform wind tunnel testing on a small UAV.
• Assess the aerodynamic loads, and how they relate to the incident wind conditions.
• Comment on the operational capability of the UAV in the wind conditions tested.

Prerequisites

MECHENG712

Specialisations

• Mechanical Engineering
• Mechatronics Engineering

Categories

• Aero-Fluid-Hydrodynamics

Supervisor

• Nicholas Kay

Team

• Hugh Holroyd
• Doug Russ

Lab

Aerodynamics Lab (Newmarket 901 Lvl5, Lab)