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A feasibility assessment of annular winged VTOL flight vehicles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

B. Saeed ,
G. Gratton  and
C. Mares
G. Gratton
Affiliation:
Brunel Flight Safety Laboratory, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
C. Mares
Affiliation:
Brunel Flight Safety Laboratory, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
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Abstract

This paper presents a feasibility study to integrate a developed lift system (an annular wing wrapped around a centrifugal flow generator) into a Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing V/STOL aircraft. Different physical scales, from micro aerial vehicle to a Harrier Jump Jet scale, for a variety of propulsion systems are explored. The system has shown to be viable for several classes of aircraft but with better performance offered by a micro-aerial-vehicle (~40g) and a large vehicle (~10,000kg) with a turbofan engine, albeit in both cases with apparently worse performance than is offered by current technologies. The wingform does not appear to be feasible in the light aircraft scale whilst using internal combustion engines.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 115 , Issue 1173 , November 2011 , pp. 683 - 692
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 2011 

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