Bioinspired Drone Rotors for Reduced Aeroacoustic Noise and Improved Efficiency

TL;DR

This study proposes bioinspired drone rotor designs with larger planform areas to reduce noise and improve efficiency, based on insect flight mechanics and validated through flow simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel bioinspired approach to rotor design that reduces noise and enhances power efficiency using larger planform areas.

Findings

Larger rotor planform areas decrease aeroacoustic noise.

Increased planform area improves power economy.

Bioinspired design offers a promising noise reduction strategy.

Abstract

The application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is surging across several industries, paralleled by growing demand for these UAVs. However, the noise emitted by UAVs remains a significant impediment to their widespread use even though in areas such as product delivery, they can be more environmentally friendly than traditional delivery methods. Nature has often been a source of inspiration for devices that are efficient and eco-friendly. In the current study, we leverage the previous work by Seo et al. (Bioinsp. Biomimetics, 16 (4):046019, 2021) on the aeroacoustics of flapping wing flight in mosquitoes and fruit flies to propose and examine a simple strategy for reducing the aeroacoustic noise from drone rotors. In particular, inspired by these insects, we explore how an increase in the planform area of the rotor could be used to reduce the rotation rate and the associated aeroacoustic noise from small-scale rotors. The study employs a sharp-interface immersed boundary solver for the flow simulations and the aeroacoustic sound is predicted by the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation. Simulations indicate that the simple strategy of employing rotors with larger planform areas could lead not just to reduced aeroacoustic noise but improved power economy as well.