Conceptual Design of an Ekranoplan UAV

Sammanfattning: Unmanned aerial system (UAS) has developed into an important platform of high-altitude photography, which can be applied in animal studies, pollution forensics and geographic monitoring. This thesis work aims to design a unmanned ground effect vehicle (UGEV) in order to provide a much better and flexible solution to future applications. Featured with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), water-launched and hovering ability, the proposed design is configured with three motors, two in the front and one in the back. This configuration allows the vehicle to cruise efficiently and as agile as fixed wing aircraft. By tilting the motor to vertical position, the vehicle turns into a hovering drone and serves as a sensing platform. The design process initiates with given design constraints and objectives, and followed by justification of configuration decision. Aerodynamic sizing is based on available literature of ground effect and a review of aerodynamic layout of existing ground effect vehicle. An iterative process using low-cost analytical software is conducted for optimal efficiency and an acceptable stability characteristics. Beside, effects of some parameters are presented and agree with available literature. Power definition is roughly discussed and the fuselage is designed particularly for water-launched and VTOL. The resulting aerodynamic curves show a considerable improvement due to ground proximity. Stability characteristics in different ground proximity is discussed and operating range is clarified. Some limitation and shortcomings of this thesis work is also discussed.