Parawing’s Application for UAVs

To come up with a new configuration for a hand launched Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV ), the application of the Rogallo wing design was considered as an idea for further research and development. The history of flight has always been inspired by the ways birds and bats fly efficiently, yet no aerial vehicle today mimics the drastic change in cross sections through the wing-span that those animals utilize. The Rogallo wing, also known as the para-wing or the para-glider, is a configuration with two conical parachutes made of flexible and inflatable material. This configuration was investigated because the vehicle can easily be controlled by simply changing the sweep angle of the wing. Focusing on research of the aerodynamic performance of this unique shape, mathematical and experimental approaches were undertaken. Unlike the conventional aircraft, there is a significant change in the cross sections through the wing-span. The aerodynamic analysis software known as Athena Vortex Lattice (AVL) uses the application of Thin Airfoil theory, and it was selected as the mathematical prediction tool. Validation of this method was done in low-speed wind tunnel testing using solid plastic models of the wing that simulate the fully inflated condition for each sweep angle. The experiments showed a non-linear relationship between the sweep angle and the lift performance, which suggests that this configuration does not require a large change in angle to control the vehicle. Ignite Grant Awar