A Numerical Study of Thermal Discharge Effects for Engine Room of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract

With continued innovations and breakthroughs in modern aviation technologies, it made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to possess diverse development and application. Recently, considerable endeavor is being made in order to extend the cruise range of UAVs, while UAV propulsion systems play a key role. In the past, studies involving the design and development of UAV propulsion systems often employed experiment to determine whether the design of engine shrouds and its inner space allocation could effectively channel cool air into the engine room and achieve exhaust emission and thermal radiation. However, obtaining information for the related flow fields through experimental testing is difficult. Hence, in this study, we developed a structure of large-scale UAV and adopted a numerical method to simulate cool air channeled into the engine room to investigate the internal heat distribution conditions. Furthermore, we used Sliding Mesh Model (SMM) to simulate the rotation of UAV’s propeller and investigate if the convection effect caused by the propeller increases the exhaust emission from the engine room. The results in this study obtained not only the dynamic flow field of cool air channeled into the UAV engine room but also the essential flow field information to achieve thermal radiation of the UAV engine room. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for researchers in the formulation of optimal thermal radiation designs for engine rooms.