Designing a kiteplane, and a little on how to control it

[Windy_Skies]

r/AerospaceEngineering - RC Airplane Design - Lift and Drag Coefficient

Are there already similar topics or comments or studies?

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Building a RC pilot kite

So I can’t be bothered pulling the lift kite around every time I want to land… Has anyone taken the next step in automating a single line lift kite with http://ardupilot.org/planner2/ I managed simple steering by remote about 5 years ago… I want to try again with the fancy new controllers. Is this what KiteSwarms runs on?

[Windy_Skies]

Uni Stuttgart successfully test flew a model airplane with autopilot.

Airborne Wind Energy: Successful test flight! | Video | Institute of Aircraft Design | University of Stuttgart
During the student seminar “Wind Energy Project” at SWE, a student team developed and successfully tested a scaled "Airborne Wind Energy" (AWE) model. For this purpose, a commercial model glider was modified to allow for autopilots and remote controllable tether connection. In addition, simple flight controller have been developed to conduct AWE-typical flight maneuvers in tethered flight. The controller code developed is based on the Awesome-Project of University of Bonn. The code will be made public shortly.

Skypull University cooperation

A little older news but I haven’t seen it posted yet: https://www.iet.hsr.ch/index.php?id=19053&L=4

A presentation from AWEC2019: https://av.tib.eu/media/50218

[Windy_Skies]

Off-topic but still related:

Lagrangian flight simulator by Roland Schmehl et. al.

Roland Schmehl has provided a free personal download link which works for 50 days.

Paragliding kites

Met the maker of https://gliderbase.com/ by chance. It’s a database and comparison tool for paragliders. They are amost exclusively LEIs with a few single skins. Price range from about 2.5 to 4.5 k€ Don’t know how well they are suited for power kites, but if anyone wants to abuse one that’s where you can start looking.

Aerodynamic characterization of a soft kite by in situ flow measurement

https://www.wind-energ-sci.net/4/1/2019/

Calculating drag [+lectures and books on Fluid Mechanics]

I’d like to be able to calculate drag. Here is a lecture series on that: Physics - Fluid Dynamics (19 of 32) The Drag Coefficient – Michel van Biezen Notice how the drag coefficient of a streamlined body is 0.04, versus 0.82 for a long cylinder. Physics - Fluid Dynamics (20 of 32) Force Due to Drag Coefficient – Michel van Biezen

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(Dynamic) Soaring

There are several topics and comments on this forum that touch on dynamic soaring. Here is a topic for linking to those and to any other content on dynamic soaring.

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Beams - Fixed at One End and Supported at the Other - Continuous and Point Loads

Autonomous Slope Soaring - RCTESTFLIGHT

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Gao (2015) Energy extraction from wind shear - Reviews of dynamic soaring doi 10.1177_0954410015572267.pdf (788.6 KB)

Teaching a glider to soar using reinforcement learning in the field

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https://www.reddit.com/r/AerospaceEngineering/comments/un6qbl/aircraft_wing_structural_design

https://www.reddit.com/r/AerospaceEngineering/comments/yq3i7n/references_for_control_surface_forces_and_torques/

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r/AerospaceEngineering - Resources For RC Plane Engineering

ArduPilot stuff - iforce2d playlist

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r/aerodynamics - simple python flight model ?

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GitHub - OpenFAST/KiteFAST: KiteFAST is a simulator for airborne wind energy...

Also linked to here: Makani Archives

Sailing to the Telltales - UK Sailmakers

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you may find some inspiration from this study: Optimal Topology of Aircraft Rib and Spar Structures under Aeroelastic Loads, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20140007307/downloads/20140007307.pdf

search terms: “wing spar topology optimization”

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Fundamentals Of Aircraft Design | AeroToolbox

Ornithopter Research by Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS

Ornithopter Research by Prof James DeLaurier MRAeS

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This talks about the swing test, for kites instead of model rockets, using just your arms, which looks like an excellent first test of your kite to me:

Learning About the Flight Stability with a Tethered Paper Plane:

SEEC26-fujita.pdf

Rocket stability explanation and testing with swing tests: Rocket Stability - YouTube

This is doing manually what a whirling arm can do non-manually.

[Windy_Skies]

X-56 Moment of Inertia Tests https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xQJ2sVQrUA

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ProjectAir - Simplest Helicopter Ever? Simplest Helicopter Ever? - YouTube

AIR Lab (SUTD) - AIM 2020 - Concurrent Optimization of Flapless Samara (Voice Presentation) AIM 2020 - Concurrent Optimization of Flapless Samara (Voice Presentation) - YouTube

AIR Lab (SUTD) - YouTube

Weixuan Zhang - The Monospinner: a controllable flying vehicle with a single moving part The Monospinner: a controllable flying vehicle with a single moving part - YouTube

Evan - World’s first controllable MAV monocopter, Robotic Samara (maple seed) World's first controllable MAV monocopter, Robotic Samara (maple seed) - YouTube

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Tim Station - How I built a Swashplateless Helicopter How I built a Swashplateless Helicopter - YouTube

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rctestflight - Can a Solid Wood Airplane Actually Fly??? - YouTube

From the comments:

Honestly, your explanation of basic aircraft fundamentals was better and more concise than a lot of the college classes I took for my AE degree. Would recommend your video to any entry level college students or anyone just interested in the basics of flight.

[Windy_Skies]

AWEbox: An Optimal Control Framework for Single- and Multi-Aircraft Airborne Wind Energy Systems

GitHub - awebox/awebox: Modelling and optimal control of single- and multiple-kite systems for airborne wind energy

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An older presentation by Christoph Sieg from KiteSwarms 34C3 - Drones of Power: Airborne Wind Energy. He shows some nice graphs. He shows for example the optimal harvesting height, and also videos of tests.

The reason for posting it here, from minute 23:40 he talks about AWEsome: An open-source test platform for airborne wind energy systems. See also the project above that built on its code.

[Windy_Skies]

Instability: The Future of Drones? - Think Flight about trying to design an efficient flying wing and controlling it with ArduPilot.

*MEGA-FAST 200MPH ! * RC PYLON RACERS Competition Race (BMFA NATS 2017)

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200 MPH+ control line ORANGE MONSTER HIGH SPEED PULSE JET

More on control line flying: Random interesting links - #16 by Windy_Skies

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Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders

Author(s): Daniel P. Raymer

Description:
Easy to follow, step-by-step methods to lay out, analyze, and optimize your new homebuilt aircraft concept

Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach

Author(s): Daniel P. Raymer

Description:
This textbook presents the process of aircraft conceptual design as seen in industry aircraft design groups. It contains design methods, illustrations, tips, explanations and equations, and has extensive appendices with key data for design.

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New videos:

CV4 line climber with Altitude Hold - sandydoggy2

CV4/StarPod 3.22 First fully automatic flight profile -sandydoggy2

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A static kiteplane not supported by a lifter kite, and flying autonomously: DV-3D, StarPilot+ with Proportional Guard Rails:

DV-3D, StarPilot+ with Proportional Guard Rails

Previous mentions on the forum:

@Windy_Skies

Here it is used to test a kite plane: TX-8.2 Flight - YouTube . And new videos from the same channel of a kite plane riding up and down a tether: WindiVator 1.0 - YouTube and a kite plane controlled by flight software: - YouTube

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Carbon Fiber vs Kevlar vs Fiberglass - Which one is right for YOU? - YouTube

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The Most Popular Homebuilt Airplane In The World

An hour-long tour of the Vans Aircraft kit plane factory.

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The engineering required to fly fast (Gound Vibration Testing) - DarkAero, Inc

What makes our flight controls different - DarkAero, Inc