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Design of a new tandem wings hybrid airship

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Abstract

It is scientifically important science value and engineering promising to develop the buoyancy-lift integrated hybrid airship for high attitude platform. Through the numerical method, a new tandem wings hybrid airship with both higher utility value and economy efficiency was obtained and its total performance and technical parameters were analyzed in detail. In order to further improve the lift-drag characteristics, we implemented the optimization design for aerodynamic configuration of tandem wings hybrid airship via the response surface method. The results indicate that the tandem wings hybrid airship has considerable volume efficiency and higher aerodynamic characteristics. After optimization, the lift-drag ratio of this hybrid airship was increased by 6.08%. In a given gross lift condition, tandem wings hybrid airship may provide more payload and specific productivity. Furthermore, the size of tandem airship is smaller so the demand for skin flexible materials can be reduced. Results of this study could serve as a new approach to designing buoyancy-lifting integrated hybrid airship.

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Abbreviations

C d :

drag coefficient

C l :

lift coefficient

D :

drag

e :

specific productivity

h :

flight height

k :

lift-drag ratio

L :

length of airship

L b :

buoyancy

L g :

gross lift

R 2 :

multiple correlation coefficient 2 adj

R 2adj :

multiple correlation coefficient corrected

S :

surface of airship

v :

flight speed

V :

volume of airship

W :

dead weight of airship

W s :

weight of skin

W g :

weight of gasbag

W b :

weight of solar battery

W f :

weight of regenerative fuel battery

W p :

payload

x :

axial coordinates

y :

normal coordinates

%RMSE:

average error

α :

angle of attack

λ :

aspect ratio

µ:

power to weight ratio of solar battery

γ 1 :

surface density of skin

γ 2 :

surface density of gasbag

γ air :

air density

γ he :

helium density

τ :

energy density of regenerative fuel battery

χ :

sweep back angle

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Loboratory of Aerodynamic Design and Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Feng Li, ZhengYin Ye & Chao Gao

Authors
  1. Feng Li
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  2. ZhengYin Ye
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  3. Chao Gao
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Correspondence to Feng Li.

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Li, F., Ye, Z. & Gao, C. Design of a new tandem wings hybrid airship. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 55, 1886–1893 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-012-4883-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-012-4883-6

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