Airfoil optimization for medium altitude UAVs with long Endurance

Aerodynamic efficiency should be desirable to achieve long endurance. It is possible to increase its aerodynamic efficiency by optimizing the airfoil. After researching the optimization methods, a gradient algorithm has been used to perform the optimization. In this paper, GOE 493 airfoil is optimized for use in medium altitude UAVs with long endurance. The flow around the airfoil is made of structure mesh and ICMCFD software have been used. For computational fluid dynamics of turbulent flow, after examining different turbulence models and comparing their results with experimental results, the k-kl-omega model and finite volume method with coupled algorithm have been used. After research, the adjoint algorithm has been used for this optimization. The objective function in this optimization has been aerodynamic efficiency. The results for the optimized airfoil show that the aerodynamic efficiency in the cruise mode is doubled compared to the initial state.KEYWORD: Airfoil, Aerodynamic Efficiency, Optimization, Adjoint Algorithm