Implementation of Biomimicry Military

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

 Members of the Team

1. Arnab Chattopadhyay: BE-Mech MIT Pune

Dept: Control System
Email id: arnabch5991@gmail.com
Ph No.: 8308634505

2. Sumodh Nandanwar: BE-Mech MIT Pune

Dept: Control system and surface modelling
Email Id: sumodnandanwar@gmail.com
Ph no.: 9224341229

3. Vishal Bagthalia: BE-Mech MIT Pune

Dept: FEA and Designing
Email id: vbagthalia@gmail.com
Ph no.:9920711618

4. Sanat Munot: BE-Mech MIT Pune

Dept: Airframe design and Finance
Email id: aman.munot@gmail.com
Ph no.:8983636621
 Introduction
Aerospace engineering is the most challenging engineering domain of all. Where designing an
airframe of maximum strength and minimum weight and best aerodynamics is not only the
biggest challenge but also the biggest expense.
Through this project we have challenged that problem and taken a different angle to find its
solution. We have used biomimicry for designing the airframe of an UAV, whose end
purpose is military scouting and surveillance. Biomimicry is basically innovation inspired by
nature. Biomimicry is the methodology of designing and production of structures and
materials modelled on biological entities and processes.
For implementing biomimicry in our UAV frame we are using two state of the art technologies
of modern engineering i.e. topological optimization and 3D printing.
Topological optimization is the engineering technique which uses mathematical models and an
artificial intelligence to produce the least weight maximum strength structure. And 3D printing
is the manufacturing technique which enables us to fabricate the most complex designs in the
least time and cost. 3D printing aids topological optimization by removing the manufacturing
constraints hence helping in the printing of the most optimized and supreme design.
Hence using these technologies we plan to design and fabricate the most optimized airframe
design for a military UAV which is modelled after one of the strongest and lightest structural
designs we have seen, the human bones. Our concept and design is putting 200,000 years
worth of evolution and science into use to build the most optimized UAV airframe for military
purpose.
 Our Motivation
Members of our team have worked on these technologies before. We built a single nozzle ABS
printing FDM 3D printer while in our third year of engineering. And topological optimization
has been used in designing of multiple parts of our Student Formula One cars.
We therefore knew the immense potential these technologies have, especially if used
together, because 3D printing eliminates any limitations or constraints that prevents
fabrication of topologically optimized structures.
Hence we decided to use them to build a scout drone for our military. In the current scenario
of the cross border, there is a lot of political tension with our neighboring countries which has
resulted in a lot of the soldiers losing their life.
India shares approx. 15000 km border with the neighboring countries, and surveillance over
such a he length is an enormously important but difficult task, and in recent times has cost us
a lot of lives.
Hence we decided to use our knowledge and skills to build a scout drone for the military which
will be very effective in all conditions, will be very robust but light at the same time. This
would help us take a considerably tedious and dangerous task off our soldiers plate and will in
turn reduce the human effort needed to keep the border secure.
 Our Technologies and Partnerships

To undergo biomimicry in our UAV we have adopted the extremely high use of two state of
the art technologies. These technologies are explained in brief below

Topological optimization: It is a mathematical methodology to obtain the best possible

material layout in a given volume so that the resultant body attains maximum stiffness at an
exceptionally low weight. This technique of optimization heavily resembles the Wolffs law of
bone growth which states that the density and layout of material on a bone is optimized for
the loads it is placed under. This methodology helps achieve never seen before weight
reductions, of the range of 40-65%.

3D printing: Topological optimization and biomimicry has existed for a long time but only on
paper. Because the structures produced are extremely organic and can in no ways be
manufactured using the traditional subtractive manufacturing techniques. Hence we opted to
go for additive manufacturing technique which is relatively a much newer manufacturing
technique but is immensely powerful, in additive manufacturing we have opted for FDM(Fused
Deposition Modelling) which is known for producing the strongest and stiffest parts for
functional prototyping. 3D printing is a technique where the material wastage is zero and
complexity does not add to the cost significantly, hence it is very economic for engineers to
use.

For functional prototyping of our part we have partnered with 3D Prototype

3D Prototype: 3D Prototype have 6 international machines and provide 3D printing services at
one of the most affordable prices to engineers, designers architects and budding engineers,
which was one of the factors we chose 3D Prototype. But more importantly 3D Prototype
provided us with the technical expertise to fine tune our STLs and chose optimum
orientations, layouts, and infill to build our functional prototypes. That was essential because
fabricating a functional part using 3D printing requires sound understanding and analysis of
the real time data which is totally different from analyzing on a software.
 Methodology
The design of the airframe of our drone is a very unique process and explaining that shall be our major
objective in this working section. The major software tools used are
1) Hyperworks: HyperWorks is a family of computer-aided engineering simulation software tools. Which
comprises of Hypermesh, OptiStruct, Hyperview
2) Solidworks: A 3D CAD designing software
To start with, for the purpose of accurate measure of performance comparison, two different sets of airframe
are built. The first, which shall be the standard airframe, was designed based on existing airframe designs and
geometries. The second airframe, which is the optimized airframe, was created by modifying the standard
design to match the geometry generated by topology optimizations.
Design of the new optimized airframe was subject to certain constraints. Most importantly the outer casing of
the airframe is kept intact and the internal parameters are optimized.
The justification for which is, so that the aerodynamics of the device must not be effected due to the
optimization and shouldnt develop unwanted vortices which shall hamper the flight of the UAV.
Then HyperWorks was used for both finite element analysis and topology optimization. Once the standard
airframe was modeled in HyperMesh, different load and constraint conditions were applied. Since the exact
loading conditions expected in flight are difficult to measure, representative loads were applied to the model.
Several different loading conditions were defined, including axial, bending, and offset angular loads, body
forces, and different constraint locations and settings. In addition, some loading conditions were applied to
two-dimensional (2D) slices of the airframe to reduce complexity and shorten computational time.
After a wide range of loading conditions were applied to the standard airframe model, the optimized design
was modeled separately and the same or equivalent loading conditions were applied. Optimization was then
performed on the model using the applied loading conditions. A variety of different optimization parameters
were used with the exception of the volume fraction constraint.
Finally, an optimized result from HyperWorks was used to generate an optimized airframe design. This was
performed in a series of detailed steps which can be summarized as

All actual design work was accomplished via Computer Aided Design (CAD) using Solidworks . Designs
generated from 2D optimizations solutions were produced by revolving the optimized solution about the
central axis, producing a 3D solid. The other modifications, however, were still required to ensure design
printability.
The actual optimized design selected for production was the best design produced throughout the multiple
optimization trials. It was selected based on many different quantitative and qualitative factors like
The stiffness, displacement of the drone arms to external loads must be appropriate but at the same time the
structure must provide good toughness to prevent damage at the time of landing.

Upon the finalization of the optimized design, both designs were printed in FDM machine with a 0.4 mm
nozzle and
This is the more concise description of our methodology more detailed approach shall be presented during the
event
Post printing of the UAV airframe it is tested for failure under different loading, it is tested for flight time, and
speed etc. to ensure the fruitfulness of optimization process and iterated based on results
The whole process has been summarized in the image below.

This is a simple circuit box but mainly for satellites because in aerospace vehicles sending 1lb of body costs
close to 10,000$.
 Mathematics
In this section we will describe the basic underlying algorithm that helps create biomimiced
structures using mathematical modeling.

Topological optimization technique uses a both, finite element analysis along with an
optimization algorithm. As design parameters, every single elements gets a so called relative
density which may continuously vary between 0 and 1 and effects the elasticity tensor of the
finite element as:

Where E describes the nominal stiffness properties of the elements.

The task for the optimizer is to determine the density of every element. The exponent
parameter is the penalty parameter used to reach a result that is as discrete as possible, by
penalizing the intermediate densities. If that tends to zero the stiffness tends to zero too. This
means that element could be deleted because it is not important for the structure. If the
density reaches the value of 1 the elements is important for the structural integrity and may
not be removed. This approach is called as SIMP (solid isotopic material with penalization.

To illustrate the capabilities of topological optimization a simple case study is illustrated.

Case study

This is an Airbus 380 drooping nose rib (basically a structural member in the wings of
Airbus380)

By using topological optimization just on this one set of ribs they created a weight loss of 45%
reducing their weight by 500 kg of weight.

This from a monetary point translated to savings of 55,00,000 INR per 15 trips (assuming the
Chevron 15C Jet A-1 as the fuel and its cost to be 0.34 dollar per litre)
Using these techniques on our drone

Aeryon scout drone used by US air force, till now India does not have its equivalent

We can too conservatively get a reduction of 30-35% weight which translates to

1) Higher payload capacity and room for a lot more better electronics and equipments
2) Greater flight time
3) Lesser weight but higher strength
4) More robust, all weather and higher crash resistance

Most of the state of the art industrial technologies have the capability of a weight
reduction of 2-5% but using our design methodology we can get an exceptionally high
weight reduction of 30-35% without compromising on the strength. This helps increase
the drones capabilities ten folds.
 Appendix
The primary requirement of our functional prototype was stiffness and rigidity.
The material we have chosen and done our analysis on is ABS (Acrylonitrile
butadiene styrene) it was chosen based on its properties which are
After that the Drones arm was where we applied it to get the optimum design after
several iterations

Base Design Stress plot on loading

This was followed by number of iterations for the most optimum results, these are a few
of the most suitable candidates

After multiple iterations, the specimen 3 met all the criterion and hence was chosen for
Prototyping