EVALUATION OF STABILITY & PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS WITH MODIFICATION & OPTIMIZATION OF DESIGN OF A FIXED WING TARGET DRONE(UAV) FOR AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the fly worthiness of a designed target UAV. Initially, the aircraft was found to be statically longitudinally unstable, but modifications and optimizations were made to improve its stability. The semi-empirical formulas were used to calculate the moment contributions of the various components of the unmanned air vehicle, and the results were visualized through a graph displaying the overall effect of all components. A detailed SolidWorks model was created to gather the necessary information for the calculation, and the relevant geometric and aerodynamic properties for longitudinal, lateral, and directional stability were determined for both static and dynamic scenarios. The approximate model of the UAV was created using XFLR5 software, from which the necessary graphs and values were obtained. The values obtained from the semi-empirical formulas and XFLR5 were compared to validate the results. The final analysis was conducted to ensure the fly worthiness of the designed UAV. As a result, the optimized model was found statically stable where the moment coefficients were 𝐶𝑚𝛼 < 0 , 𝐶𝑛𝛽 > 0 & 𝐶𝑙𝛽 < 0 . In the dynamic stability part, all parameters were found to be stable except for the spiral mode. The performance parameters were also calculated for different altitudes and compared with XFLR5 parameters and the results were satisfactory.