Abstract:

In order to enhance the directional static stability of the stratospheric airships, a new airship configuration with auxiliary stabilizers and without remarkably increasing the weight of the airships is proposed. To simulate the directional static stability and aerodynamic drag characteristics of an airship compared with an airship without auxiliary stabilizers under different side-slip and pitch angles, a numerical simulation model is established. Finally, the effects of the auxiliary stabilizer area on the directional static stability are analyzed. The results show that the airship configuration based on the auxiliary stabilizers exhibits a better directional static stability. Under the same conditions, the airship with auxiliary stabilizers can be stabilized faster with the increase of the side-slip angles; When the area ratio between the stabilizers and fins is greater than 0.05, at the side-slip angle of 30° the yaw moment coefficient increases from about -0.8 to positive. From the effects of the auxiliary stabilizer area, we can come to a conclusion that the larger the area is, the bigger the yaw restoring moment and the better the stability is.

Key words: Stratosphere airship, Auxiliary stabilizers, Static stability, Numerical simulation, Aerodynamic characteristics