AERODYNAMIC

ANALYSIS ON
QUADCOPTER
Himanshu Arjun Shrivastava (14MCD0047)
the Guidance of,
Tony Sebastian (14MCD0003) Prof. Rajay Vedaraj
Midhun M.S (14MCD0044)

Under

INTRODUCTION
Quad copter is an unmanned light weight vehicle
which is having four rotors fitted symmetrically
about a control panel.
The main components of quad copter are frame, 4
motors and their propellers, 4 speed controllers,
electronic stabilization, battery and receiver.
The four rotors will provide the lift required to fly
the quad copter and the control panel will control
the speed of each rotors to help in guiding the
quad copter.

OBJECTIVE
To reduce drag force acting on the quad copter
during its flight.

WHAT IS DRAG FORCE??

Forces acting opposite to the relative motion of
any object moving with respect to a surrounding
fluid.
Drag depends on the properties of the fluid and
on the size, shape, and speed of the object.
Drag equation is

FD = CDAV2
CD = drag coefficient
= density of the fluid
A = area of cross section
V = speed of the object relative to the fluid

FACTORS AFFECTING
DRAG FORCE
We can group these factors into :
Those associated with the object.
Those associated with the motion of the object
through the air.
Those associated with the air itself.

METHOD OF REDUCTION
By giving dimples on the surface of quad copter
By tilting the rotors.

DRAG REDUCTION BY
DIMPLES
After the separating point, the
region of separated flow is
dominated by unsteady,
recirculating vortices that create a
wake.
The pressure in the wake area is
less than the front side, hence
there is pressure drag induced.
Larger the wake area, larger will
be the pressure difference and
hence larger will be the pressure
drag.
If we somehow, reduce the wake
area , then we can reduce the
pressure drag
Airfoil design uses this principle

 Because of dimple on
surface, small eddies flow
is formed.
This eddies flow decreases
the pressure in the flow.
As the pressure decrease,
the momentum increase
provide more kinetic
energy to the flow.
Hence more energy is
available to compensate
the friction and thus, the
flow separation is delayed
This results in smaller
wake area.

METHODOLOGY
The effect of different size spherical grooves on
air drag reduction has been studied by using CFD
software FLUENT, and the fluid field state outside
the rotors with smooth surface and non-smooth
surface were also simulated and studied.
Following is the h/d value used for analysis:
Model

h/d

0.0018

0.0025

0.0030

0.0047

0.0055

0.0068

INPUT PARAMETERS
Software
Model
Grid System

Ansys Fluent
LES
Fine free
unstructured
Calculation
Transient
Condition
Iteration
150
Step
Input Condition
Inflow Velocity
Inlet:
50m/s
Outflow Pressure
Outlet:
0Pa

RESULTS
Without dimples:
(h/d=0.0018)

Model 1

 Model 2 (h/d= 0.0025)

(h/d =0.0030)

Model 3

 Model 4(h/d= 0.0047)

(h/d= 0.0055)

Model 5

RESULTS
Model

h/d

With no
dimple
1

Drag
Force (N)
147.377

0.0018

146.417

0.0025

145.790

0.0030

145.531

0.0047

144.856

0.0055

177.034

0.0068

177.824

REDUCTION OF DRAG BY
TILTING THE ROTORS
Usually in quad copters during the forward
motion, two rotors are rotating in two different
speed.
That makes the body tilted towards the direction
of motion.

But this will make the motion unstable.

This can be solved by tilting the rotors.

15

 The area of contact with the air is less.

Thus the drag force can be reduced.
Since the rotors are rotating in same speed the
instability can be reduced
16

METHODOLOGY
The optimised dimple design is obtained through
analysis.
The design is then remodelled by tilting the rotors
by 45.
Then analysed using the ANSYS FLUENT software.
The specifications are same as previous analysis.
17

REMODELLED DESIGN

18

RESULT
Model

h/d

Drag Force (N)

0.0047

144.856

7(With tilted
rotors)

0.0047

141.234

19

CONCLUSION
These are the conclusions:
Dimples on the cover of quad copter can reduce
the drag force acting on it.
In this analysis the reduction of drag in 4th model
is by 1.71%.
In the quad copter with tilted rotors the drag is
reduced by 4.16%.
Thus the last design is giving less drag force.

20

REFERENCES
SUN Zhi-hong, SHI Ting-ting, Drag Reduction Study on
Rotors with Triangle Groove Surface. 2009 International
Conference on Energy and Environment Technology
Katsumi Aoki, Koji Muto, Hiroo Okanaga and Yasuki
Nakayama, Aerodynamic Characteristics and Flow
pattern on Dimple structure of sphere.
Jibing Lan, Yonghui Xie and Di Zhang, Effect of leading
edge boundary layer thickness on dimple flow structure
and separation control, Journal of Mechanical Science
and Technology.
Yogianandh Naidoo, Riaan Stopforth, Glen Bright, Rotor
Aerodynamic Analysis of a Quadrotor forThrust Critical
Applications.
21

THANK YOU
22