Aerodynamic Study of Multirotor Drone
JAXA Supercomputer System Annual Report February 2021-January 2022
Report Number: R21ECMP17
Subject Category: Competitive Funding
- Responsible Representative: Yoshikazu Makino, Aeronautical Technology Directorate, Aviation Program
- Contact Information: Yasutada Tanabe(tan@chofu.jaxa.jp)
- Members: Yusuke Hamamoto, Keita Kimura, Hideaki Sugawara, Kuniyuki Takekawa, Yasutada Tanabe
Abstract
Cooperative researches with universities and research institutes funded by government on multirotor type drone and eVTOL aircraft are carried out, focusing on the aerodynamic performance, flight characteristics and the emission of noise.
Reference URL
Please refer to https://www.jss.jaxa.jp/en/rotorcraft/ .
Reasons and benefits of using JAXA Supercomputer System
The numerical simulations of multiple rotors require large amount of memories and high computing capability. Supercomputers are the MUST for such kinds of studies.
Achievements of the Year
The flowfields around a quadrotor drone are compared with quad rotors without the central fuselage. It is shown that the central fuselage blocks the upwash on the central portion of the quad rotors, redirects the flow to horizontal directions, thus increase the outwash velocity along the ground. Fig.1 shows the flowfields around the quadrotor drone in ground effect; while Fig. 2 shows the flowfields around quad rotors without the central fuselage. The outwash velocity profiles along the ground are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.

Fig.3: Comparisons of velocity profiles on ground between a quadrotor drone and quad rotors along the section crossing the diagonal rotor centers

Fig.4: Comparisons of velocity profiles on ground between a quadrotor drone and quad rotors along the gap of the rotors
Publications
– Peer-reviewed papers
1) Tanabe, Y., et al. (2021), Quadrotor Drone Hovering in Ground Effect, J. Robotics and Mechatronics, 33-2, 339-347.
– Non peer-reviewed papers
1) Yasutada Tanabe, Hideaki Sugawara, Shigeru Sunada, Koichi Yonezawa, Hiroshi Tokutake, NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF QUAD ROTORS IN GROUND EFFECT, 47th European Rotorcraft Forum (Virtual Conference), September 7-10, 2021.
2) Koichi Yonezawa, Kazuki Akiba, Hao Liu, Hideaki Sugawara, Yasutada Tanabe, Hiroshi Tokutake and Shigeru Sunada, Numerical Investigations of Ground Effect of a Quadcopter, 2021 Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Aerospace Technology (APISAT2021), November 15-16, 2021, Jeju, Korea & Online.
Usage of JSS
Computational Information
- Process Parallelization Methods: N/A
- Thread Parallelization Methods: OpenMP
- Number of Processes: 1
- Elapsed Time per Case: 1500 Hour(s)
JSS3 Resources Used
Fraction of Usage in Total Resources*1(%): 0.75
Details
Please refer to System Configuration of JSS3 for the system configuration and major specifications of JSS3.
System Name | CPU Resources Used(Core x Hours) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
---|---|---|
TOKI-SORA | 2725485.29 | 0.13 |
TOKI-ST | 4359645.60 | 5.37 |
TOKI-GP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
TOKI-XM | 0.00 | 0.00 |
TOKI-LM | 326.92 | 0.02 |
TOKI-TST | 190482.23 | 4.00 |
TOKI-TGP | 0.00 | 0.00 |
TOKI-TLM | 0.00 | 0.00 |
File System Name | Storage Assigned(GiB) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
---|---|---|
/home | 1470.31 | 1.46 |
/data and /data2 | 25087.23 | 0.27 |
/ssd | 1556.44 | 0.40 |
Archiver Name | Storage Used(TiB) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) |
---|---|---|
J-SPACE | 9.18 | 0.06 |
*1: Fraction of Usage in Total Resources: Weighted average of three resource types (Computing, File System, and Archiver).
*2: Fraction of Usage:Percentage of usage relative to each resource used in one year.
ISV Software Licenses Used
ISV Software Licenses Used(Hours) | Fraction of Usage*2(%) | |
---|---|---|
ISV Software Licenses(Total) | 87.68 | 0.06 |
*2: Fraction of Usage:Percentage of usage relative to each resource used in one year.
JAXA Supercomputer System Annual Report February 2021-January 2022