Haifa El-Sadi, Massimiliano Orfanini, Eleonora Orfanini

Abstract: Runway inspections are regularly conducted by airports to identify and prevent foreign object debris (FOD) that can potentially cause significant damage and pose risks to aircraft. There are an outstanding number of sources that could cause FOD to appear in operational areas, which makes prevention and detection very difficult and time consuming. These sources can come from the environment through wildlife and weather, operating equipment, and personnel on the runways, and even from the airport infrastructure itself. The aim of this project is to assist airports in enhancing runway safety by drones to improve the runway inspection process. SolidWorks, a computer-aided design (CAD) software, was used to create five designs, Given the high stresses that drones must endure during flight, it was decided to use onyx, a composite material made of nylon and carbon fibre, to construct the drone's chassis. Onyx has a strength of up to 40 MPa, The selection of SolidWorks Flow Simulation was employed as the method for conducting the CFD propeller analysis. Subsequent rounds of CFD testing led to the attainment of an average force value of 11.313 N. The outcome closely approximates the manually computed thrust value for the 7035 propellers at an RPM of 13000. The flow simulation findings represent the required thrust magnitude essential for operating the drone at the maximum permissible thrust limit.

Keywords: CFD, FEA, Design, Foreign Object Debris

Date Published: November 21, 2024
DOI: 10.11159/jffhmt.2024.039

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