Effect of Rotor Blade Geometry on the Performance of  Rotary-Winged Micro Air Vehicle

Kirti Bhatnagar; Abhishek Dr

doi:10.14429/dsj.66.9659

Kirti Bhatnagar Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur
Abhishek Dr Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14429/dsj.66.9659

Keywords: Micro air vehicles, Low Reynold’s number, aerodynamic performance, micro rotor

Abstract

The development of physics based analysis to predict the hover performance of a micro rotor system meant for a hover capable micro air vehicle for studying the role of blade geometric parameters (such as planform, twist etc.) is discussed. The analysis is developed using blade element theory using lookup table for the sectional airfoil properties taken from literature. The rotor induced inflow is obtained using blade element momentum theory. The use of taper seems beneficial in improving the hover efficiency for lower values of thrust coefficient. For rotors operating at high thrust conditions, high negative twist is desirable. There is no unique blade geometry which performs well under all thrust conditions. This well validated analysis can be used for design of hover capable micro air vehicles.

Author Biographies

Kirti Bhatnagar, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur

Ms Kirti Bhatnagar obtained her BTech (Aeronautical Engineering) from Gautam Buddha Technical University, UP, India. She is working as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. Her research interests include: Design, analysis and simulation of micro air vehicles.

Abhishek Dr, Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, Kanpur

Dr Abhishek is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. His research interests include: rotary wing aeromechanics, wind turbines and autonomous unmanned aerial systems with focus on analysis, design and experimentation.