Micro Air Vehicle Aerodynamic Estimation Study

MAVs represent a newly developing direction of aircraft, because MAVs have some special roles both in civil and military applications, so many of researchers devote to this field all over the world.In this thesis, on the basis of theory of potential flow, employed UVLM(unsteady vortex-lattice method) to study the aerodynamic characteristics of flapping wing and fixed wing. The factors which affect on the aerodynamic characteristics are analyzed. The main work of this dissertation is as follows:1. Equations of UVLM are derived, and the computational program based on these equations is programmed.2. Some parameters are studied on the aerodynamic characteristics of flapping wing, these results supply some references to the future researches of flapping wing MAV.3. The effects of propeller slipstream on aerodynamic characteristics of fixed wing are also investigated.As the computational results are in good agreement with reference data, so the method applied in this dissertation is correct and reliable, conclusions of this paper can supply some qualitative instructions to MAVs research.