How can I model wings with aerodynamic properties in Simscape Multibody?

Hi

I am currently designing a Simscape Multibody model of my drone. My drone is a three-armed device, which somewhat resembles the rotors of a helicopter.

The drone is supposed to rotate around itself, using a motor on each arm. Furthermore, each arm will have a wing attached to produce the lift required.

The initial purpose will be to control the RPMs of the motors as well as the pitch of the wings.

Currently I have a working model without the wings, so I am looking for a way to model wings that do have some aerodynamic properties, that would be able to create some force upwards (lift).

How can I integrate wings (or other forms of artificial lift) in to my model?

Much appreciated!

-Jonas

The m-file and slx-file are attached.

The 3D-model of the drone I have attached as a picture.

[Yifeng Tang]

Hi Jonas,

If you have the equations for the lift, e.g. as a function of speed, you may implement that as an external force to your drone in Simscape Multibody. You may use a transform sensor to measure the speed and perform the calculation in either PS domain or in Simulink. If you need to model more complex aerodynamic force, e.g. drag & lift as function speed and pitch, the above principles should still applies but the equations you need to build can become much more complicated.

Answer 1

[Steve Miller]

As answered by Yifeng above, if you have the equations for the lift, e.g. as a function of speed, you may implement that as an external force to your drone in Simscape Multibody. The External Force and Torque block is the block you would need.

For an example of this, see the Quadcopter Drone in Simscape on the File Exchange

--Steve