Background

This design was a similar redesign of the second blended wing model, however in this case the visual changes were not as striking. The main intent of this model was not to change the underlying structure of the drone, rather to optimize the design for structural stability and manufacturability. This design was then rigorously tested through various simulations and was finally validated for use.

Design Process

Although this design took far less time to make than the others, the validation process took months, making it the longest process by far. The design itself was simplified to be defined more through lofts and extrudes rather than an organic environment, to allow for a greater ease of manufacturability. The ailerons have been made larger to improve maneuverability in the air, and many of the fillets 

Simulations

CFD

The simulation involved a basic CFD wind tunnel analysis to get an idea of the pressures and wind forces involved on the drone. These, along with hand calculations (refer to the calculations document) provided a solid framework for the FEA simulations.

FEA

Compared to CFD, the FEA validation process was far more complex and involved many more steps. Initially, basic elements of the design were validated, such as modal frequency and wind forces, to make sure the drone could handle basic flight. After that, the major analysis was done through a series of drop tests in Ansys, calculating whether the frame could handle a 21m drop from various angles and trajectories without plastic deformation