Modelling of quadcopter in crosswinds

Abstract

The utilization of quadcopters has been steadily increasing across various industries, prompting extensive research into their aerodynamic properties to optimize their functionality. In this study, a simplified quadcopter model will be subjected to varying levels of crosswind and studied to obtain its aerodynamic properties through the use of computational fluid dynamics. Following that, the aerodynamic forces will be used to create an aerodynamics model to predict how a quadcopter will react at various angles of attack.

A significant portion of this study will discuss the methodologies used to implement the forces generated by the quadcopter rotors. It was determined that using the user-defined functions method in ANSYS Fluent provided an accurate representation of the forces generated by quadcopter rotors. Furthermore, the user-defined functions method was capable of creating a momentum source that could tilt at an angle of attack in comparison with the named expression method.