Simulation Study of a Solar Glider Design

Abstract

The ability of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to fly for an extended period of time is an important issue in today's world for various engineering applications. Taking into account a proper design process, a solar-powered aircraft could potentially fly for inordinate amounts of time continuously. The research aims at designing a light-weight solar endurance glider for an increased flight time by implementing vortex generators across the wingspan for improving its aerodynamics performance. The study utilized ANSYS 18.1 K-Omega SST turbulence simulation technique to successfully simulate the glider at different speeds along with various angle of attacks for aerodynamics optimization and ANSYS static structural module to observe the deformations and stresses on the wingspan. The findings show that the glider should be able to maintain a flight time of at least 6 hours with triangular vortex generators, sharklet winglets and 16 solar panels. Keywords: Aircraft, Strain, Batteries, Stress, Drag, Mathematical model, Aerodynamics