Article: Aerodynamic design optimisation of UAV wings via metaheuristic methods and CFD: a comparative study Journal: International Journal of Sustainable Aviation (IJSA) 2025 Vol.11 No.4 pp.405 - 425 Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer wide operational capability, low environmental impact, and enhanced aerodynamic performance while eliminating pilot risk in military missions; therefore, aerodynamic design optimisation was performed for three different wing configurations in ANSYS Fluent. This study mainly aims to determine the best wingspan that can give the highest CL/CD in different angles of attack. Part of the innovative work of this study was the application of particle swarm and cuckoo search techniques, in modelling CD and CL coefficients obtained from the aerodynamic analysis. These approaches facilitated the creation of the nonlinear predictive models, instead of the traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Also, the UAV design obtained through optimisation was successfully fabricated, thus confirming the practical relevance of the design. The findings indicate that alternative optimisation techniques would be able to save the computational time and cost considerably without significantly compromising predictive accuracy. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Aerodynamic design optimisation of UAV wings via metaheuristic methods and CFD: a comparative study

Authors: Ozturk Ozdemir Kanat; Umut Kaya; Ridvan Oruc; Mehmet Sumer; Murat Koyustu

Addresses: School of Civil Aviation, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu, Turkey ' Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu, Turkey; Graduate School of Science And Engineering, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey ' Civil Aviation Vocational School, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Agri, Turkey ' Ministry of Environment, Urbanism and Climate Change of Turkiye, No. 52, 2082nd Street, Mustafa Kemal, Çankaya/Ankara, Turkiye ' Aytemiz Generator Inc., Orhanlı Fire Station No. 16, Orhanlı Road 34956 Tuzla/Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer wide operational capability, low environmental impact, and enhanced aerodynamic performance while eliminating pilot risk in military missions; therefore, aerodynamic design optimisation was performed for three different wing configurations in ANSYS Fluent. This study mainly aims to determine the best wingspan that can give the highest C_L/C_D in different angles of attack. Part of the innovative work of this study was the application of particle swarm and cuckoo search techniques, in modelling C_D and C_L coefficients obtained from the aerodynamic analysis. These approaches facilitated the creation of the nonlinear predictive models, instead of the traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Also, the UAV design obtained through optimisation was successfully fabricated, thus confirming the practical relevance of the design. The findings indicate that alternative optimisation techniques would be able to save the computational time and cost considerably without significantly compromising predictive accuracy.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle; UAV; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; cuckoo search algorithm; CSA; particle swarm optimisation; PSO.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSA.2025.150672

International Journal of Sustainable Aviation, 2025 Vol.11 No.4, pp.405 - 425

Received: 14 May 2025
Accepted: 30 Sep 2025
Published online: 19 Dec 2025 *

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Title: Aerodynamic design optimisation of UAV wings via metaheuristic methods and CFD: a comparative study

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