Abstract
This thesis conducts a trade study of 3D wing configurations at hover with deflected slipstream enabled by flapped co-flow jet (FCFJ) airfoil for the Earth and Martian atmosphere conditions for vertical takeoff/landing (VTOL) operations. The optimization of the FCFJ system is crucial with various factors to investigate from the propeller strength to the wing geometries. The purposes of the study are two-fold for hover operation: 1) trade study of interaction effect between the front canard with the rear wing for an air-frame system potentially used for a Martian electric VTOL (eVTOL) aircraft at low Reynolds number conditions. 2) trade study of aerodynamic efficiency of a single wing hover operation on Earth high Reynolds number condition.
For the Earth single wing configurations, the results show a modest 20 degree nose-up tilt can significantly improve the system’s overall efficiency for the same operating jet momentum coefficient, while moving the injection slot position from 33%C to 31%C can result in a 40% reduction for the jet momentum coefficient for similar lift and efficiency performance. These configurations allow the FCFJ wing to operate at high total coefficient of lift and with the resultant force vector angle staying between -85 degrees and +85 degrees.
For the Martian canard-wing configuration; the target of the total coefficient of lift is 55 to lift up a hypothetical VTOL aircraft in Martian atmospheric conditions. Although several wing configurations met this target using a propeller strength Δp of 2.52% in the front wing, 2.70% in the overlapped portion of the rear wing, and 4.50% in the non-overlapped portion of the rear wing, the resultant force angle is a little off the required range of -85 degrees to +85 degrees. This study indicates that a VTOL aircraft in the Martian atmosphere using DS-FCFJ is proven feasible.