Title: Comparison of aerodynamic characteristics of an UAV using DATCOM and CFD analysis

Authors: Mukesh Raju; P. Theerthamalai; Praveen Kumar Marankumar; Prashanth Marankumar; Inamul Hasan

Addresses: Department of ECE, Saranathan College of Engineering, Trichy, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, ACS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, India

Abstract: DATCOM is a standard tool used to predict the aerodynamic coefficients and stability derivatives as a function of Mach number and angle of attack. The present work simulates the flow field around an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to calculate the aerodynamic forces and moments at Mach number 0.32 for different angles of attack (AOA) ranging from -6° to 14° with a 2° increment. CATIA V5 is used to design the UAV, Ansys fluent is used to simulate the flow field surrounding the UAV, and DATCOM is used to predict their aerodynamic coefficients. The outcomes of the CFD are contrasted with the DATCOM prediction. The CFD aerodynamic coefficients and the DATCOM results agree well. Results suggest that since CFD analysis is time-consuming, DATCOM prediction can be utilised in place of CFD to predict aerodynamic coefficients in the preliminary design. Once the specific design has been settled, CFD analysis can be used.

Keywords: DATCOM; CFD; aerodynamic prediction; aerodynamic efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2025.144813

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2025 Vol.25 No.2, pp.95 - 108

Received: 04 Jan 2023
Accepted: 26 Feb 2024
Published online: 03 Mar 2025 *

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