Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Flow Physics, Noise Prediction, and Design Optimization

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Drones, an international peer-reviewed journal of Drones (MDPI), entitled “Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Flow Physics, Noise Prediction, and Design Optimization”.

The rapid growth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPASs) has created increasing demand for improved understanding of their aerodynamic performance and acoustic footprint. In particular, UAV deployment in urban airspace, logistics, surveillance, and environmental monitoring requires enhanced efficiency, stability, and noise reduction.

This Special Issue focuses on advances in computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-driven approaches to UAV aerodynamics and aeroacoustics. The emphasis is on how high-fidelity and reduced-order numerical methods can be used to resolve complex unsteady flow physics, including rotor–wake interactions, vortex dynamics, and turbulence-induced aerodynamic and acoustic effects.

We particularly welcome studies integrating CFD with computational aeroacoustics (CAA), experimental validation, and data-driven modeling approaches. Research addressing the coupling between aerodynamic efficiency and noise generation, as well as innovative strategies for low-noise UAV design and optimization, is especially encouraged.

Topics of interest include CFD modeling of UAV aerodynamics, rotorcraft flow physics, blade–vortex interaction noise, turbulence modeling, hybrid CFD–CAA methods, machine learning for flow prediction, and UAV operation in complex environments such as urban wind fields and gust conditions. Contributions involving experimental validation or real-world UAV applications are strongly encouraged.

This Special Issue aims to provide a platform for advancing both fundamental understanding and practical design methodologies for next-generation UAV systems, with a strong focus on flow physics, acoustic performance, and real operational relevance.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Marcel Ilie
Dr. Gabriela Liliana Stroe
Prof. Dr. Augustin Semenescu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.