Fluid Mechanics and Flight Mechanics

Roll control of medium-aspect-ratio flying-wing UCAV based on trailing-edge jet

  • Shuai SHAO ,
  • Zheng GUO ,
  • Gaowei JIA ,
  • Qingyang CHEN ,
  • Zhongxi HOU ,
  • Laiping ZHANG
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  • 1.College of Aerospace Science and Engineering,National University of Defense Technology,Changsha 410073,China
    2.National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology,Academy of Military Sciences,Beijing 100071,China

Received date: 2022-05-13

  Revised date: 2022-06-16

  Accepted date: 2022-07-13

  Online published: 2022-08-03

Supported by

National Natural Science Foundation of China(61801495);Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province(2021RC3077)

Abstract

With jet active flow control technologies, the flying-wing aircraft are expected to achieve flapless flight which can improve the stealth characteristics. However, little research has been done on the tactical flying-wing platforms with a medium aspect ratio (3-4). We design a Circulation Control Effector (CCE) to replace the ailerons of a medium-aspect-ratio flying-wing UCAV. Numerical simulations and flight tests of the demonstrator are conducted to investigate the roll control effectiveness of the trailing-edge circulation control jet. In numerical simulations, the pressure inlet boundary is adopted, and the contribution of the jet momentum is also considered in the aerodynamic force calculation. Then, the coupling simulation of the inner flow in the CCE and the outer flow over the flying-wing UCAV is realized, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the demonstrator are predicted. The simulation results show that with the increase of the jet momentum coefficient, the roll control capability increases almost linearly, with no obvious coupling yaw moment or pitch moment. The flight test results indicate that remarkable roll control effectiveness is achieved by the CCE, with the mean roll rate being 25.5-26.7 (°)/s, the maximum roll rate 40.1 (°)/s, and the maximum roll angle 83.9°.

Cite this article

Shuai SHAO , Zheng GUO , Gaowei JIA , Qingyang CHEN , Zhongxi HOU , Laiping ZHANG . Roll control of medium-aspect-ratio flying-wing UCAV based on trailing-edge jet[J]. ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA, 2023 , 44(10) : 127437 -127437 . DOI: 10.7572/S1000-6893.2022.27437

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