8
$\begingroup$

What airfoil design does the MQ-9 Reaper UAV use? Alternatively, what similar airfoil designs exist?

I'm running simulations for the effects of vortex generators for a school project and I would like to study the Reaper drones.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I'd suggest using gliders as they have a lot more published data, and even vortex generator studies in the open literature. Military aircraft and UAV's do not generally have data for the public eyes. If it's a school project, you'll be at safer grounds in publishing your results too. $\endgroup$
    – Gürkan Çetin
    Commented Nov 5, 2017 at 19:09
  • $\begingroup$ Use the GA(W)-1 as a replacement. It should not be too different and a lot of work on it has been published. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 13:26
  • $\begingroup$ GA(W)-1 by no means at all close to GW series airfoils. GW series in intended to fly ~1-0.5 Million RN while GA(W) is intended to fly ~10 million. And operating CL range is also very different. $\endgroup$
    – ABCD
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 10:49

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

The wing root of the General Atomics RQ-9 is the Drela GW-19/GW-25.

The wing tip airfoil is the Drela GW-27.

Because of their application, you will likely have difficulty finding study results of vortex generators used on that blended airfoil. There are papers, but I have only seen them in the DTIC library, and I do not recall the classification of them. However, the aircraft has been exported, so you may find some open literature on the airfoil, and the adaptations and optimization of it.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry to resurrect such an old answer but do you remember where you got this information? $\endgroup$
    – wrkyle
    Commented Sep 3, 2021 at 6:00
1
$\begingroup$

Similar airfoil if you go higher Reynolds number is NLF 1015 and NASA LRN 1015. One paper specifically investigated what you have suggested above is this.

AIAA-2003-0211 Enhanced Airfoil Design Incorporating Boundary Layer Mixing Devices Michael Kerho and Brian Kramer

On the original airfoil design without vortex generators.

THE DESIGN. OF AN AIRFOIL. FOR. A HIGH-ALTITUDE,. LONG-ENDURANCE. REMOTELY. PILOTED. VEHICLE. N9 0- 12 545. Mark. D. Maughmer.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .