Aerodynamic Numerical Optimization in UAV Design (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Aerospace (ISSN 2226-4310).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2026) | Viewed by 598

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Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Kraljice Marije 16, 11120 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: modeling and simulation; aerodynamics; fluid mechanics; computational fluid dynamics; numerical simulation; numerical modeling; numerical analysis; CFD simulation; computational fluid mechanics; turbulence
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Dear Colleagues,

Contemporary unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) possess diverse aerodynamic configuration solutions, promoting their utilization in a wide range of challenging and demanding operational conditions.

Custom-tailored UAVs have evolved in various industries to meet predetermined mission profiles. Precision agriculture, construction and infrastructure, filmmaking and photography, environmental monitoring, logistics and delivery, mining and resource exploration, oil and gas, search and rescue, security and surveillance, and surveying and mapping present just some of the industries that have been substantially influenced by their development.

The progressive development of UAVs featuring remote or automated flight and mission controls has superseded that of manned aircraft, eliminating the need for onboard pilots in many critical roles.

While these technologies have seen significant progress in recent years and play a vital role in these domains, there is a growing need to optimize their aerodynamic characteristics in order to enhance their performance, stability, maneuverability, effectiveness, and efficiency.

Aerodynamic numerical optimization is essential in the design of UAVs. Optimized aerodynamics enable higher flight speeds, longer endurance, and increased payload capacity, resulting in improved operational efficiency and increased stability and maneuverability, allowing UAVs to perform complex missions and tasks with precision.

Moreover, optimized designs can reduce energy consumption and extend flight times, having a positive environmental impact.

Therefore, exploring and investigating the field of aerodynamic numerical optimization is crucial to unlocking the full potential of UAVs across various sectors.

Furthermore, with notable advancements in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and optimization methods, traditional approaches to UAV design that rely heavily on experimental testing and analytical models can be circumvented in order to efficiently explore, investigate, and enhance the aerodynamic characteristics of UAVs.

This Special Issue focuses on the state-of-the-art advancements in and applications of aerodynamic numerical optimization techniques in UAV design to explore the progress, applications, and challenges in this field.

Prof. Dr. Aleksandar M. Simonović
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
  • aerodynamic design optimization
  • aerodynamic shape optimization
  • optimization design
  • multi-objective optimization (MDO)
  • airfoil
  • wing
  • propeller
  • computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
  • aerodynamic configuration

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24 pages, 10262 KB  
Article
Independent Effects of Blade Number and Solidity on Cyclorotor Hover Performance: A Parametric CFD Study for Design Optimization
by Anwer Altahir Mohamed Alsabri, Ognjen Peković, Nikola Mirkov, Aleksandar Simonović and Aleksandar Grbović
Aerospace 2026, 13(9), 765; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13090765 - 26 Aug 2026
Abstract
The influence of blade number and rotor solidity on cyclorotor hover performance remains insufficiently understood because previous studies have generally varied these parameters simultaneously or investigated them through separate one-factor analyses. This work examines their independent effects using a two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes [...] Read more.
The influence of blade number and rotor solidity on cyclorotor hover performance remains insufficiently understood because previous studies have generally varied these parameters simultaneously or investigated them through separate one-factor analyses. This work examines their independent effects using a two-dimensional unsteady Reynolds–Averaged Navier–Stokes model in which blade number (2–8) and rotor solidity (0.24–0.60) are varied independently across 26 geometrically feasible design points, at constant rotor radius and rotational speed. The model is validated against published experimental data for the same rotor before the parametric analysis is performed. At fixed rotational speed, increasing solidity raises both the thrust and power coefficients and lowers power loading. Because power loading is disk-loading-dependent even for an ideal rotor, however, this apparent penalty largely reflects a change in operating point rather than a loss of aerodynamic efficiency: compared at matched disk loading, efficiency varies only weakly with solidity except in the corner of the design space that combines high solidity with a long blade chord, and an interior efficiency optimum emerges near σ0.36 for blade counts N=4–8, reconciling the present results with the chord-to-radius optimum reported in the literature. Blade number has only a secondary influence on mean performance at constant solidity, consistent with classical rotor theory; azimuthally resolved loads, however, show peak-to-mean thrust ratios of 3–4 for two- and three-bladed rotors, a design constraint invisible in cycle-averaged metrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerodynamic Numerical Optimization in UAV Design (2nd Edition))
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