Thrust recapture for morphing aerial vehicles with out of plane thrusters*

Morphing aerial vehicles which rotate their thrusters out of plane during flight can suffer from reduced vertical thrust when the rotor axes are no longer pointed vertically upward. To circumvent this deficiency, a method based on flow redirection and conservation of linear momentum is presented which can significantly increase the amount of thrust that can be produced in challenging configurations. In particular, this study explores a novel aerodynamic configuration which recaptures a portion of the flow using aerodynamic surfaces. The resulting flow field and influence on the overall thrust force is studied.