Ideation, Modelling and Comprehensive Analysis of Retractable Mechanism of Hybrid Unmanned Amphibious Vehicle With Real-Time Prototype Development
Janani Priyadharshini Veeraperumal Senthil Nathan, M Sabareesh, Kadhir Narayanan S, Sundhar Baskar, Laxana Sourirajan, Akhila Ajith Pisharam, Ragavendra Thaiyan Rajendran, Gopinath Vinayagam, Darshan Kumar Jayaram, Senthil Kumar Madasamy, Beena Stanislaus Arputharaj, Ramya Maranan, Parvathy Rajendran, Saurav Dixit, Khristina Maksudovna Vafaeva, Vijayanandh Raja · 2025
The concept of Unmanned Amphibious Vehicle (UAV) has been challenging since the vehicle is capable of executing flights in both air and water mediums. The work is initiated with an innovative design approach to satisfy the intended mission requirements of the UAV in an effective manner. The proposed design consists of a retractable or tilting mechanism of wing and propeller integrated with the UAV, which is capable of altering its orientation by being foldable with the help of a gear-based mechanism, during forward or vertical takeoff and landing transition. The overall design of UAV and gear mechanism that aids in the retraction is developed by utilizing the concept of top-down design approach. This mechanism is validated through experimental setup by manufacturing of the gear setup, propeller constituting to form the tilting mechanism. The design of propeller and other subordinate components is done by execution of analytical calculations, which is then fabricated externally to test its the performance. Parallelly, the UAV is modelled and tested computationally using Computational fluid dynamics, in both aerodynamic and hydrodynamic conditions with the help of specialized computational tools. From the outcomes obtained from these analyses, the proposed UAV is found to be able to perform reasonably well in both operating environments. The structural aspects of the mechanism are additionally analyzed through Finite element analysis for various composite and alloy materials to choose the most optimal material. The outcomes of the structural analysis is compared by considering specific subsequent parameters for the chosen materials, for which it is concluded that GY-70-carbon fiber reinforced polymer is the best performing material as it is observed to undergo the least amount deformation of 2.9496 mm, in addition to minimal equivalent strain of 0.47676 µm/µm and strain energy of 0.013285 mJ for relatively moderate intensity of stress induced. Thus, it is concluded that the proposed UAV imposed with the finalized material is able to withstand the expected external structural loadings during its mission profile, and so be more effective in terms of performance characteristics.