Design and Manufacture of a High-g Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Structure

In 1997, the Charles Stark Draper Laboratories commenced a project with the objectives of reducing the risk, cost and time associated with obtaining time critical battlefield reconnaissance data. The Wide Area Surveillance Projective, or WASP, is a small autonomous flyer, which is launched contained in an artillery shell, and then deployed over the battlefield to capture images. The first phase of this project involved identifying and solving the challenges associated with designing a device capable of surviving launch loads of 15,000 g’s. The second phase of WASP is currently addressing the manufacturing and flight control issues. The focus of this thesis is on the structural design and manufacture of the WASP vehicle, particularly the aft fuselage section and the wings. The aft section is not only subjected to high impulsive inertial loads, but its weight (being aft of the center of pressure) has a substantial effect on the controllability of the vehicle. Finite element models of this section as well as test specimens are produced to optimize the design. The wings are required to be stiff aerodynamic surfaces, and are folded along the side of the vehicle so as to take up minimal volume. Several different manufacturing procedures are explored to provide a robust set of wings that match all of the specified requirements. All of these pieces need to be as light as possible; therefore they are manufactured in advanced composite materials. Thesis Supervisor: Gregory A. Kirkos Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Thesis Advisor: S. Mark Spearing Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Massachusetts Institute of Technology