Experimental Study on Aerodynamic and Propulsive Performance of eVTOL Power Wing System

ABSTRACT

This study carries out experimental investigations on the Distributed Ducted Fan Powered Wing (DFPW) system based on the Low-Speed Acoustic Wind Tunnel of Sun Yat-sen University. Aero-propulsive force measurements are systematically conducted to explore the effects of inflow velocity, ducted fan operating power and layout parameters. Combined with the Multiple Reference Frame (MRF) numerical method, the coupling characteristics and flow mechanism of these factors on the DFPW system are analyzed. The preliminary experimental conclusions and findings provide experimental support for the power matching and performance optimization of distributed ducted fan electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Mr. Mo Chongshen, is a second-year student in the Integrated Master-PhD Program at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sun Yat-sen University. He is currently conducting a research internship at ME. His doctoral research focuses on the design and application of distributed ducted fan-powered wing systems, covering research areas including electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) Aircraft design, aircraft aerodynamic design, as well as simulation and experimental study on the distributed ducted fan systems.

Aerodynamic Optimization for Airfoils Inspired from Swift’s Wing using Kriging Surrogate Model

ABSTRACT

This study presents a biomimetic aerodynamic design methodology enhanced by surrogate-based optimization to develop high-efficiency airfoils inspired by the swift (Apus affinis) wing. Firstly, the geometric features of swift wing profiles were acquired through 3D scanning and reverse engineering, constructing a smoothed airfoil library after mitigating distortions from specimen drying. Subsequently, a synergistic Kriging-MIGA optimization framework was developed using Hicks-Henne parameterization and weighted Latin hypercube sampling. The optimization achieved remarkable camber-thickness synergy: sections from 20% to 50% span improved the lift-to-drag ratio by 8.63% to 24.14% primarily through camber enhancement, while the 60% tip section gained 12.16% via leading-edge suction enhancement and trailing-edge sharpening. Furthermore, the optimized 3D wing exhibited an 8.53% lift-to-drag ratio improvement, attributed to root-dominated lift generation and weakened tip vortices. Notably, unsteady acoustic simulations demonstrated significant noise reduction, particularly in upstream and wake regions, correlating with restructured pressure gradients—an aeroacoustic synergy not explicitly targeted during optimization. Finally, wind tunnel tests validated the numerical results, confirming the reliability of the approach despite manufacturing impacts. This work provides a new paradigm for high-fidelity bio-inspired design, effectively bridging biomimetics, advanced optimization, and experimental validation.

PhD. Student, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sun Yat-sen University. Research interests: Aerodynamic shape optimization and aircraft configuration design.