Wake interactions of a small Unmanned Air Vehicle with a high-speed moving ground vehicle

Small Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) are particularly susceptible to unsteady flow environments and high incoming flow velocities. This work presents an experimental investigation of the aerodynamics of a small UAV maneuvering near a simplified fast-moving vehicle. A representative vehicle and quad-rotor UAV have been constructed with the ability to vary their positioning relative to one another in a low speed recirculating wind tunnel. High speed planar Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used to measure the UAV wake interaction with the wake structures shed by the vehicle. This presentation will present the flow field evolution from slow to high speed landing interactions to affecting UAV landing maneuvers. A variety of relative positions and vehicle wake structure interactions will be shown.