Analysis of the Z-wing configuration

• Main Author: Avén, Joakim
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik 2011
• Subjects: Z-wing; Asymmetric airplane; UAV; Z-vinge; Asymmetriskt flygplan; Vehicle engineering; Farkostteknik; Engineering mechanics; Teknisk mekanik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-12135

This thesis will analyze the Z-wing configuration. The Z-wing configuration is basically an airplane that has one of the wings placed at the forward section of the fuselage and the other wing placed on the other side far aft at the fuselage. This configuration creates a lot of different and unwanted forces and moments due to a differential in lift and drag between both the wings and the main objective with this thesis is to get a Z-wing to fly straight and level flight without these strange and unwanted forces and moments over it. Therefore the contribution of the wings different parameters to different moments and forces have been mapped out. Parameters such as the angle of incidence, wing span, dihedral, placement of wings etc. All the calculations done regarding the aerodynamic forces on the Z-wing have been performed in the Tornado, which is a program that runs in MATLAB and uses Vortex Lattice Method for its calculations. The outcome was that a steady level flight was possible. The configuration does have a lot of disadvantages. It will be very difficult to control in pitch, yaw and roll, although a backwards sweep of the front wing and a backwards sweep of the aft wing made roll control much better.