UAV Wing Subsonic Lift and Vortex Shedding (Prandtl Lifting-Line)

External Aerodynamics (CFD)PASS · 1.55%

Subsonic 3D finite wing aerodynamics of a swept tapered UAV wing with upward-canted winglet at 9.5° angle of attack, verified against Prandtl lifting-line theory for finite-span wings.

Tolerance:: 5%

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Problem statement

Geometry: Swept tapered UAV wing (root chord 145 mm, tip chord 105 mm, sweep 45 mm) with vertical winglet (height 52 mm, chord 70 mm) in wind tunnel 800 × 380 × 440 mm, semi-span 245 mm, angle of attack alpha = 9.5°.
Material: Air at 20 °C (rho = 1.204 kg/m³, mu = 1.825e-5 Pa·s), incompressible steady RANS model.
Boundary conditions: Inlet velocity U = 35 m/s along +X (intensity 5%), outlet gauge pressure 0 Pa, slip symmetry on wind tunnel outer and root symmetry planes, no-slip viscous wall on wing and winglet surfaces.
Measured quantity: Aerodynamic lift coefficient CL on the wing surfaces, verified against 3D finite wing theoretical lift CL = 1.150; secondary checks on induced drag CD, tip vortex suction peak, and mass conservation.

WebCAE Terminal

Paste these commands into the Terminal panel inside WebCAE. They use the same text DSL as the application; run one command per line:

units mm
import path="cfd_uav_wing_vortex.step" format=step
mesh tet size=36
cfd fluid air
cfd set mode=steady speed=35 turbulence=sst iterations=180 tol=1e-4 intensity=5 multigrid=1 cfl=8 threads=8
cfd inlet surface number 1 speed=35 intensity=0.05
cfd outlet surface number 6 pressure=0
cfd symmetry surface number 2
cfd symmetry surface number 3
cfd symmetry surface number 4
cfd symmetry surface number 5
cfd wall surface number 7 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 8 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 9 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 10 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 11 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 12 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 13 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 14 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 15 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 16 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 17 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 18 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 19 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 20 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 21 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 22 monitor=on
cfd wall surface number 23 monitor=on
solve cfd

Results comparison

Reference value	1.150
Our result	1.132
Deviation	1.55%
Tolerance	5%
Status	PASS · 1.55%
Element family	Finite-volume CFD
Mesh details	4200 узлов, 19445 тет (Netgen P1 tet mesh, стреловидное крыло + винглет)

Updated: 2026-10-19 · WebCAE solver