Simulation and experimental analysis of hovering and flight of a quadrotor

Quadcopters were the first heavier than air vertical take-off
landing vehicles. Quadrotors have become increasingly popular
in the recent years finding a great variety of applications in
different fields such as surveillance and small goods transport.
The flight of quad-rotors are not easily analysed, but
computational fluid dynamic simulations are a credible source of
reliable modelling. In the present paper, an analysis in
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is presented performed on
a quadrotor model SYMA X5SC with focus on the fuselage and
the rotor blades.
The quadrotor is analysed in three different models; fuselage,
rotor and full configuration. The models have been designed
using CAD tools and encapsulated in a volume domain. Volume
unstructured meshes are used and contain a maximum of 3.5
million of cells. Each blade was assigned to a moving cell zone
making it possible to rotate. Steady and unsteady flow
simulations have been carried out. Hover, and forward and side
wind cases were inspected. The flight was simulated for the
hovering mode at three different angles of attack and free stream
velocities.