Flexible skin for measurement of boundary layer state and flight attitude identification on UAV

The wall shear stress and pressure are important for analyzing boundary layer flow and evaluating the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. In this study, a flexible skin consisting of dual layer hot-film sensors and pressure belts was developed to measure the distribution of wall shear stress and pressure on an unmanned aerial vehicle during increase of angle of attack (AOA), tail spin, and decreases of AOA. The sensitivity of the dual layer hot-film sensor is improved by about 150% due to heat conduction reduced. The relative error of pressure belt is less than 1% at 10 °C–65 °C. The boundary layer separation and reattachment time, separation AOA and time-shift of the flow field changes in flight conditions are determined. The separated AOA of the left and right wing boundary layers are 26.41° and 17.58° respectively. There is a delay about 4 s between the separation of the boundary layer and the entry of the tail spin, which can provide early warning to prevent abnormal flight conditions such as post stall and tail spin.