INGENIEUR
design (CAD) software design and dimensions.
The prototype is manufactured using a CNC hot
wire cutter machine. Then, the reinforcement of
the wing structure fibre is implemented through
the fiberglass lay-up process using advanced
composite techniques.
This platform is built for a wide range of usage
in the industry. It can be used by researchers as
their research platform, land surveyors for aerial
mapping missions, Government agencies such
as the police for aerial patrolling, and drone
companies for their drone fleet. The unique selling
proposition of this project is its functionality, which
only uses one platform for multiple configurations
in different types of environment or usage. It
is also unique for its low manufacturing cost
compared to commercial UAVs in the market.
Figure 4: Members of My Drone Tech project
#4. Aeroacoustic Investigation on the
effect of Leading Edge serrations on
Airfoil
by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Airfoils are an important component in many
engineering applications. However, the airfoil is
also responsible in the emission of airfoil self-
noise. The airfoil self-noise generation can be
classified into sound at the leading edge (LE) and
sound at the trailing edge (TE). When the turbulent
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Flow trace at the serrations in the Leading Edge
of the airfoil
eddies from the upstream interact with the LE of
the airfoil, the airfoil-turbulence interaction noise
(ATIN) is produced. ATIN is the focus of this study
as it is present in many cases including the wind
turbines, rotors and turbofan engines. The LE
serrations are one of the treatments to reduce
ATIN. The stiff comb-like structures at the LE of
their wings are one of the unique features that
enable the barn owl’s silent flight. LE serration
is a passive control method that is bio-inspired
from humpback whale flippers and from the barn
owl’s silent flight. To date, many positive findings
show that LE serrations are also able to enhance
hydro and aerodynamic performance at post-stall
conditions. As for the hydro and aerodynamic point
of view, many studies have highlighted that stall
can be delayed by the introduction of serrations at
the leading edge.
Until recently, most studies have been
investigating the effectiveness of particular
parameters of the LE serrations on the ATIN
reduction mechanism. By taking the rod-airfoil as
the benchmark configuration of ATIN generation
mechanisms, the current study aims to inspect
the effect of placing vortex generators to the
serrations on the ATIN. The airfoil model being
used is NACA 0012 and the rod (with diameter
D) is placed 3.5D upstream of the airfoil in order
for the airfoil to experience complete turbulence
inflow. Flow calculations are carried out three-
dimensionally by employing Delayed Detached
Eddy Simulation (DDES), while the aerodynamic
noise calculation is solved by using the Ffowcs
Williams-Hawkings (FW-H) equation. The sound
results are validated with the experimental results
of the rod-airfoil baseline case. This study expects