Aerodynamic characterization of a model aircraft using wind-tunnel testing and numerical simulations

The advent of radio-controlled aircrafts has ushered a new era in the development and fabrication of miniature aerial vehicles, especially by novice designers. The knowledge of design methodology and the aerodynamic characteristics, like the stall angle of the aerial vehicle can be immensely beneficial to the designer in improving the existing design. We present the design methodology, material selection, measurement techniques and the aerodynamic characteristics obtained using wind tunnel testing and numerical simulations of a subsonic remote-controlled aircraft. The aerodynamic forces acting on the scaled model (1:20) were measured in a low speed wind tunnel in the Reynolds number range of 2.27-2.9 × 10
⁵
; the forces were also computed using numerical simulations and a good qualitative agreement was found between the measured and simulated lift, drag coefficients indicating that the mathematical model captures essential physics. Finally, we also remark on the possible reasons for the mismatch between the measured and simulated data and conclude by outlining the possible applications of our analysis.