• Advances in aircraft and spacecraft science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.117-144
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• 2019

High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft are capable of providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities over vast geographic areas when equipped with advanced sensor packages. As their use becomes more widespread, the demand for additional range, endurance and payload capability will increase and designers are exploring non-conventional configurations to meet the increasing demands. One such configuration is the joined-wing concept. A joined-wing aircraft is one that typically connects a front and aft wings in a diamond shaped planform. One such example is the Boeing SensorCraft configuration. While the joined-wing configuration offers potential benefits regarding aerodynamic efficiency, structural weight, and sensing capabilities, structural design requires careful consideration of elastic buckling resulting from the aft wing supporting, in compression, part of the forward wing structural loading. It has been shown already that this is a nonlinear phenomenon, involving geometric nonlinearities and follower forces that tend to flatten the entire configuration, leading to structural overload due to the loss of the aft wing's ability to support the forward wing load. Severe gusts are likely to be the critical design condition, with flight control system interaction in the form of Gust Load Alleviation (GLA) playing a key role in minimizing the structural loads. The University of Victoria Center for Aerospace Research (UVic-CfAR) has built a 3-meter span scaled and flexible wing UAV based on the Boeing SensorCraft design. The goal is to validate the nonlinear structural behavior in flight. The main objective of this research work is to perform Ground Vibration Tests (GVT) to characterize the dynamic properties of the scaled flight vehicle. Results from the experimental tests are used to characterize the modal dynamics of the aircraft, and to validate the numerical models. The GVT results are an important step towards a safe flight test program.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.1035-1047
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• 2015

Wind tunnel experiment and computational analysis have been carried out to evaluate the performance of propeller for scale electric-powered HALE UAV, named EAV-2H+. Performance curves are measured for three propellers and their adequacy for EAV-2H+ installation is examined through consideration of operating conditions. Decline in performance coefficients is observed in low rpm region. Also, the effect of transition tape on propeller performance is measured and analyzed. The computational performance analyses are carried out by using commercial CFD program. The thrust and power coefficient from computations show good agreement with experimental results. Performance coefficients are compared and the influence of measurement device which contributes to discrepancy of the results is examined. Transition SST model is confirmed to yield the tendency of performance decline in low rpm range, similar to experimental observation. The decrease in aerodynamic performance of blade element due to low Reynolds number is identified to cause the decline in propeller performance. Analyses for high altitude conditions confirms degradation in propeller performance.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.469-477
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• 2015

In this study, the characteristics of main wind direction, vertical temperature and wind speed profile near the Moseulpo airfield for HALE UAV(High Altitude Long Endurance Unmaned Aerial Vehicle) is investigated. The results are summarized as follows, main wind direction is governed by air mass according to season and local wind such as land-sea breeze. The directions of landing and take-off of HALE UAV will be selected as the south-east direction in June ~ August, north-west direction in October ~ March, and south-east direction at daytime in April ~ May, September. Annual variation of temperature at 100 hPa showed that temperature in summer season is lower than winter season. On the other hands, wind speed at 250 hPa in winter season is higher than summer season. The threshold values of temperature and wind speed for HALE UAV flight are $-75^{\circ}C$ and $90ms^{-1}$, which were determined by 5 % frequency value($1.96{\sigma}$), respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.22-27
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• 2015

Hydrogen features highest energy density per mass and is expected to be desirable as a fuel of HALE(High altitude long endurance) UAV(Unmanned aerial vehicle). A reciprocating internal combustion engine is known to be a reliable and economic power source for this kind of UAV. Therefore, the combination of hydrogen and engine is worth of doing research. Test bench with 2.4L Spark-Ignited engine was prepared for the experiment in which start and combustion characteristics at idle condition were examined in this study. Stable hydrogen supply system and a universal ECU(Engine control unit) were also utilized for the test engine. Equivalence ratio and spark timings at idle operation were investigated and compared to the data of gasoline engine. The results will be a starting point for full-scale research of hydrogen engine for HALE UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2018

Using hydrogen fuel is expected to be suitable as a reciprocating internal combustion engine with heightened interest in HALE(High Altitude Long Endurance) UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Hydrogen is hightest energy density per mass so it can continue to charge for long periods of time and have positive part of the environmental effects. However, it is estimated that there is less research on hydrogen fuel engine currently applied, and many studies need to be done. Depending on the operation, there are factors that result in supercooling due to reduced radiation or reduce cooling performance due to low air density. Therefore, the experiment was to change the temperature of the cooling water and investigate the effect on engine combustions. The limitation of the stable operation range due to backfire is dominated by the excess air ratio rather than the effect of the cooling water temperature change. When the cooling water temperature increases, the volumetric efficiency decreases and the torque decreases. As the cooling water temperature decreases, the heat loss was increased and consequently the thermal efficiency was decreased.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.396-404
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• 2015

The UAV's wing has high aspect ratio that is suitable for the high altitude and long endurance. Knowing the real-time deformation of wing structure in flight, it can be utilized in structural health and loading status monitoring, improvement of control effectiveness and extraordinary vibration phenomena using displacement-strain relationship. In this paper, nonlinear displacement prediction algorithm was developed for prediction of large structural deflection in flight. The algorithm was validated through the comparison with finite element analysis results and also experimental results for several large tip displacements of cantilever beam. The predicted displacements using strains are agreed well with the measured values from laser displacement sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.7
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• pp.505-511
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• 2020

The circular composite tubes have been used as a main spar of HALE-UAV(High Altitude Long Endurance-Unmanned Air Vehicle). In this paper, an analytical model is presented for the prediction of the failure load of unsymmetrically stiffened circular spar using a modified Brazier approach. This model was used to predict the moment carrying capacity of the unsymmetrically stiffened circular spar. From the results, we can know that a stiffened cap placed in the top sector of a spar increased the bending capabilities. Four point bending tests were conducted to estimate the effect of the cap on the failure load and compared with the proposed model. And numerical simulations were performed to analyze the behavior of stiffened circular spar. Comparisons of the results from the proposed model with those from experiments and numerical modes show good correlation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.708-713
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• 2013

KARI is developing a solar-electric powered HALE UAV(EAV-3). For demonstrating the technology, EAV-2H, a down-scaled version of EAV-3, is developed and after EAV-2H's initial flight test, the directional stability and control need to be improved. Thus, the vertical tail and rudder of EAV-2H are redesigned with Advanced Aircraft Analysis(AAA). Size of the rudder is increased from mean chord ratio of rudder to vertical tail, $C_r/C_v(%)=30$ to $C_r/C_v(%)=60$ and size of the vertical tail is reduced 15%. As a result, the directional control to side wind($v_1$) is improved to sideslip angle, ${\beta}(deg)=25^{\circ}$ and $v_1(m/sec)=3.54$. Also, variation of airplane side force coefficient with sideslip angle ($C_{y_{\beta}}$) and variation of airplane side force coefficient with dimensionless rate of change of yaw rate ($C_{y_r}$) are reduced 15% and 22%, respectively to minimize the effect of side wind. The empennage design of EAV-2H is verified with flight tests and applied to design of KARI's solar-electric-powered EAV-3.