Investigation of surface pressure fluctuations in airfoils subject to transverse gust: towards gust mitigation

One of the key issues in developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) capable of flying in adverse conditions is an understanding of their unsteady response when subject to fluid disturbances. Sudden gusts due to complex terrain or unfavorable weather cause large lift transients that can have detrimental consequences on UAV flight stability, efficiency, and maneuverability. To investigate the effect of a transverse gust, we perform large-eddy simulations of a gust impinging on a NACA 0012 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers and explore its influence on the pressure fluctuations at the airfoil surface. We find that these surface measurements may be used to inform predictions of the lift coefficient during gust encounters, paving the way for designing gust mitigation schemes that stabilize flight in UAVs.