Wind Tunnel Study of a VTOL-UAV and Its V-Tail for Its Longitudinal and Directional Aerodynamic Characterisation. ProVANT EMERGENTIa project

Special Session: Hybrid and Convertible Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: This article presents the design, manufacturing and wind tunnel tests conducted on a 1:4 scaled Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilities and on its 1:2 scaled tail in V-configuration. A brief description of the models, identifying characteristic dimensions, along with the manufacturing process for the scaled models and the measurement equipment is done. Regarding the aircraft, results of the wind tunnel experiments are shown, which are conducted for a wide rage of the angles, thus allowing the longitudinal and directional aerodynamic characterisation of the aircraft. The experiments on the V-tail are done varying the angle of attack and the ruddervator deflections, which allows to determine their effect on the longitudinal performance of the aircraft. Subsequent analysis, corrections considered, and validation for all the data obtained are presented. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are drawn with the main objective of establishing a basis for future tests.