While fixed, unactuated rotor tilt is increasingly utilised in commercial multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), its impact on forward flight performance remains poorly documented in the literature. The current work addresses this gap in the literature by systematically quantifying the performance trade-offs of rotor tilt across various airspeeds. Furthermore, a novel rotor configuration is proposed to mitigate some of the tilted rotor configuration’s inherent drawbacks. The different configurations are evaluated using a computationally affordable numerical approach that combines steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, a simple proportional–integral (P–I) trimming algorithm, and actuator disk rotor modelling (ADM). The findings reveal that the aircraft’s power requirements can be reduced by more than 29% for airspeeds greater than 20 m/s, while its range can be increased by up to 22% with the alternative rotor configurations. However, the modifications were found to have a significantly lesser impact on endurance, as only a 2.9% increase is noted at best.
@article{drones10020105,author={Mullen, Brendan H. P. and Varela Martínez, Pau and García-Tíscar, Jorge and García-Cuevas, Luis Miguel},title={Numerical Analysis on the Influence of Rotor Configuration on Quad-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Performance},journal={Drones},volume={10},year={2026},number={2},article-number={105},issn={2504-446X},doi={10.3390/drones10020105},}
Conference
Analytical Prediction of Propeller Thrust for Lift-Plus-Cruise Tilt-Rotor Configurations with Wind Tunnel Validation
Néstor
Alcañiz-Brull, Pau
Varela, Jorge
García-Tíscar, and Luis Miguel
García-Cuevas
Continuous population growth will lead to further expansion and densification of urban environments. In this context, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has emerged as a new transportation solution through the use of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, more precisely, configurations such as lift-plus-cruise tilt-rotors. During the conceptual design phase, propeller design methodologies commonly reported in the literature rely on vortex-based approaches or actuator disk theory. However, the accuracy of these methods strongly depends on the inflow angle and operating conditions. This paper introduces an analytical model to predict propeller thrust at a 90° inflow angle (edgewise flight), based on a correction of the thrust under axial flight conditions and the propeller geometry evaluated at 75% span. The approach relies on local velocity and angle of attack estimations derived from classical Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) with an additional correction to account for stall effects at high angles of attack. This capability is particularly relevant for modeling lift-plus-cruise tilt-rotor configurations cruise phase during early design stages while maintaining minimal computational cost. The proposed model is validated against wind tunnel measurements for several propellers tested at different global pitch angles, varying from 0 m/s to 9.1 m/s of windspeed and 1300 to 6200 rpms, demonstrating the applicability of the developed formulation for blades with twist angles up to 16°.
@article{engproc2026142003,author={Alcañiz-Brull, Néstor and Varela, Pau and García-Tíscar, Jorge and García-Cuevas, Luis Miguel},title={Analytical Prediction of Propeller Thrust for Lift-Plus-Cruise Tilt-Rotor Configurations with Wind Tunnel Validation},journal={Engineering Proceedings},volume={142},year={2026},number={1},article-number={3},issn={2673-4591},doi={10.3390/engproc2026142003},}
2025
Conference
Numerical analysis on the influence of rotor configuration on quad-rotor flight performance
L.M.
García-Cuevas, J.
García-Tíscar, P.
Varela, and B.
Mullen
In 11th European Conference for AeroSpace Sciences (EUCASS), Jul 2025
@inproceedings{AURORA_EUCASS_2025,author={García-Cuevas, L.M. and García-Tíscar, J. and Varela, P. and Mullen, B.},title={Numerical analysis on the influence of rotor configuration on quad-rotor flight performance},booktitle={11th European Conference for AeroSpace Sciences (EUCASS)},year={2025},month=jul,address={Rome, Italy},doi={10.13009/EUCASS2025-518},}
Conference
Impact of the fuel cell propulsion system design on performance, durability, and environmental impact for advanced air mobility
R.
Novella, J.
Gómez-Soriano, M.
López-Juárez, and D.
Velasco-Pérez
In Aerospace Europe Conference (AEC) and Conference of the Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS), Dec 2025
@inproceedings{AURORA_AEC_2025,author={Novella, R. and Gómez-Soriano, J. and López-Juárez, M. and Velasco-Pérez, D.},title={Impact of the fuel cell propulsion system design on performance, durability, and environmental impact for advanced air mobility},booktitle={Aerospace Europe Conference (AEC) and Conference of the Council of European Aerospace Societies (CEAS)},year={2025},month=dec,address={Turin, Italy},}
