Comparison of open-source CFD software for aerodynamic analysis of mini-UAV

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to compare opensource CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software for the aerodynamic analysis of a mini-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). When low cost analysis is necessary, open-source applications seem to be the best choice; however, the quality of the open-source software may vary. Hence, this paper includes leading candidate open-source CFD software-SU2, OpenFOAM, and Code-Saturne. PyFR and HiFiLES will be analyzed in future work. The first part of this paper shows the geometry of two mini-UAVs used for the aerodynamic analysis. In the second section, the free software is summarized and described, including the open-source CFD applications. Although this analysis is focused on small subsonic UAVs, the software can also be applicable to other categories of aircraft (e.g., gliders, large supersonic airplanes, and MAVs); however, accuracy may be different from this research. Finally, the results of the aerodynamic analysis are recorded, evaluated, and discussed. © 2015 IEEE.

Free software 2 mini-UAVs analyzed in 3 CFD applications-SU2 • ROE (Roe's Approximate Riemann Solver) • JST (Jameson-Schmidt-Turkel)-OpenFOAM-Code-Saturne Results-SAGITTA with and without Boundary Layer-AVIGLE without Boundary Layer © 2015 IEEE.