The Ceiling Effect and Flight Insight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles during Proximity Inspection of Bridges Via Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling and Simulations
Abstract
UAVs face some critical challenges in pervasive applications, such as navigation in GPS-denying areas, obstacle avoidance, and tradeoff between payload and flight time. The INSPIRE UTC at Missouri S&T is developing a clamping UAV, a hybrid flying and traversing robot, to make it possible that the UAV flies under a bridge girder, grabs the girder, and moves along the girder for inspection. This heavy UAV is difficult to control underneath the deck when equipped with multiple cameras. In this study, CFD modeling and simulation are conducted to understand the flight behavior and ceiling effect of the UAV under the bridge deck. First, 3D scanning and reverse engineering are used to build CFD models. Second, a series of single propeller tests are conducted to validate the process of CFD modeling and the simulation results. Third, based on the workflow and technique validated through single propeller CFD analysis, the CFD model of an entire UAV is established and analyzed to predict the behavior of the UAV and understand its interaction with upper boundaries as it approaches the bridge ceiling vertically. The CFD simulation results show that the ceiling effect of the designed clamping UAV is insignificant when the UAV approaches the standard bridge deck with enough depth. These results provide a technical reference for the design and control of the clamping UAV for bridge inspection.
Recommended Citation
P. Jiao et al., "The Ceiling Effect and Flight Insight of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles during Proximity Inspection of Bridges Via Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling and Simulations," Structural Health Monitoring 2021: Enabling Next-Generation SHM for Cyber-Physical Systems - Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, IWSHM 2021, pp. 866 - 874, DEStech Publishing, Jan 2021.
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
978-160595687-9
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 DEStech Publishing, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2021
