Evaluation of Protruding Centerbody on the Novel Airdata Sensor

Abstract

A novel airdata sensor was developed at the University of Kansas1. The Bio-Inspired probe was designed for high angles of attack and sideslip use, suitable for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight control system and other highly maneuverable aircraft applications. The probe displayed excellent speed measurement of up to angle of attack and sideslip of ±40°, compared to ±25° exhibited by a conventional pitot tube at the same accuracy. With the goal of evaluating the novel probe’s protruding centerbody and effects on angular sensitivity, two new sets of probe were developed, featuring elongated (L/D 1.5) and shortened (L/D 0.5) protruding centerbodies to gain deeper understanding of the Coanda effect on the blunt protruding centerbody featured on the Bio-inspired probe. The protruding centerbody uses the Coanda effect to turn air flow streamline and attach to the centerbody surface. The analysis included pressure and velocity measurement at high angle of attack wind tunnel tests and Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations on the new and original (L/D 1.0) prototypes. As expected, the elongated ellipsoid centerbody (L/D 1.5) probe exhibited an improved flow capture. Design improvements such as centerbody optimization and direct drag measurement are suggested to improve the novel probe capabilities. Further research will be concentrated on a flight testing on a UAV with the novel airdata sensor and a conventional Pitot-static tube.