An experimental study of controlled canard for a solid rocket motor based unmanned air vehicle

Abstract

An aerodynamic study is presented for controlled canard configuration of a target unmanned air vehicle (TUAV) at cruise Mach number between 0.7 and 0.85, using a solid rocket motor as power. The analysis was focused on the longitudinal wind tunnel test data for learning complicated controlled canard-elements interactions and canard vortex behavior. The canard vortex interaction with tail wing of initial configuration concept with a NACA0012 canard and the improved configuration with a NACA0007 canard were reviewed and discussed. The experiments prove that the stability and control characteristics of whole TUAV are sensitive to the thickness of canard in transonic peed regime because of different canard vortex intensity and effect generated. The flight experiment shows that the final improved controlled canard configuration satisfies the request of the control system.