05 - Propulsion
PROPELLER OPTIMISATION FOR AN ELECTRICAL-POWERED TACTICAL UAS
R. MacNeill, The University of Sydney, Australia
A multidisciplinary design tool has been developed for optimisation of an electric UAV powertrain. An extended blade element-momentum theory method has been coupled with structural and acoustic analysis modules to conduct MDO-based propeller design, while empirically-derived models for the electric motor allow fully coupled optimisation of the entire powertrain.