Abstract

This work presents an exploration of autorotational behavior, observing naturally occurring structures to provide insight into the stability and design of autorotative mechanisms. A rotor is said to be in autorotation when, in the presence of airflow, a natural rotation generates lift to either suspend or slow the descent of a rotor. This phenomenon is observed in nature in the form of samaras, a seed pod morphology evolved in parallel by maple trees and many other organisms around the world. Simulation and experimental observation of samara vertical descent behavior provides insight into the stability of naturally evolved autorotative structures. A control-oriented model is presented to simulate the steady-state and dynamic behavior of single-winged samaras. The model is validated through experimentation and comparison to previous experimental data in the literature. This effort yields a compact model which allows for analytical exploration of design parameter bounds and stability. Autorotation provides a platform for development of unmanned aerial vehicles which can perform agile maneuvers and stable hovering in a power-efficient manner. The concept of tethered autogyros applies well to versatile surveillance platforms and high-altitude power generation; however, minimal prior literature exists on the tethered autogyro configuration. A generalized model is presented to explore the aerodynamic equilibrium space of autogyros in response to regenerative braking. Comparison with experimental data from the literature provides validation and visualizes the effects of varying inputs such as braking torque, wind speed, etc. This model is expanded to include the balancing forces of a catenary tether as well as the coupled aerodynamic and tether contributions within a wind field that varies with altitude in a physically accurate manner. Numerical methods are presented for solving aerodynamic equilibrium conditions and tether response coupling to explore the viability and practicality of high-altitude deployment for power generation as well as lower altitude extended and efficient flight of a smaller surveillance craft.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2022

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Das, Tuhin

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Program

Mechanical Engineering

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0009382; DP0027105

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0027105

Language

English

Release Date

December 2022

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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