| Popis: |
Composite designing and airframe fabrication to develop a lightweight, robust, and high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Aarush X2, next-generation urban unmanned aerial vehicle, are presented in this paper. The composite study investigated the structural feasibility of various lay-ups and fibre orientations using analytical model. The research is performed on the sandwich composite configuration of Divinycell, core, and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), facesheet, bonded with the epoxy matrix of AY-105 (resin) and HY-951 (hardener). The study presented five plies, [0/90/Divinycell/0/90], lay-up to sustain structural loads with the least gross take-off weight (GTOW) for manufacturing the UAV. The fabrication of the UAV was carried out using vacuum-assisted wet lay-up method (VAWLM) and demonstrated a total weight of the airframe 12.1 kg. The flight tests of around 30 h validated the structural capability of the designed sandwich composite along with the fabrication technique selected. The averaged flight time of 2.8 h on a two-stroke gasoline engine, DLE-61, with fuel tank capacity of 1.8 litres was recorded. |
