Numerical investigation of an electroaerodynamic driven aeroplane: electrical properties, ionic wind and flight performance

Abstract The propellers and turbines used in aeroplanes are typically powered by fossil-fuel combustion. Recently, Xu et al (2018 Nature 563 532–5) demonstrated a successful flight of an aeroplane using ionic-wind propulsion, which does not require combustion or moving parts. The ionic wind phenomenon induced by electrical discharges has been revealed since 17th century, but it was the first practical example of the so called solid-state propulsion. The detailed capabilities of such ionic wind based or electroaerodynamic driven aeroplanes have aroused the interest of both researchers and industries, detailed modeling works are required for deeper insights. In this paper, a 2D unipolar ion drift model coupled with Navier–Stokes equations is developed and validated by experiments. The electric field, space charge distribution, ionic wind velocity and body force are obtained. The flight velocity, the lift and distance of the ionic wind based aeroplane in the experiment and in an extreme case are analyzed theoretically based on the modeling results. The results show that the performance of an ionic wind based aeroplane depends on the matching between electrical parameters (discharge geometry, voltage, etc), flight parameters (initial velocity, weight control, airfoil, wingspan, etc) and power storage (battery storage, battery weight, etc).