Analysis of aerodynamic characteristics of folded tandem wings with different airfoil configurations

Purpose Based on a novel foldable tandem wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the effects of symmetrical and asymmetric airfoil on the aerodynamic characteristics of tandem deformed wings were studied. Design/methodology/approach The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation method was used to simulate the unfolding process of UAV serial wings under four configurations, and the lifting drag coefficient curves of UAV serial wings were obtained when the Angle of attack was from 0° to 20° under different wind speeds. Findings The results show that different airfoil configurations affect the lift coefficient and aerodynamic characteristics during the unfolding of the folded wing. Originality/value Using NACA 0010 as a symmetrical airfoil and NACA 4309 as an asymmetric airfoil, four configurations are obtained after the arrangement and combination of the two airfoil types, namely, front and rear wing symmetrical airfoil, front and rear wing asymmetric airfoil, duck symmetrical airfoil asymmetric airfoil and duck asymmetric airfoil symmetrical airfoil.