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Inverted V-tail advantages?

Posted by Irfan Mohamed on March 25, 2010 at 1:38pm
Did some googling on military UAVs and it came up with this nice site, listing 30 UAVs currently in use and for future deployment.

09-rq-7.jpg


http://www.popsci.com/technology/gallery/2010-02/gallery-future-drones

I found the inverted v-tails on some of them interesting, can anyone enlighten me on the advantages they present compared to normal v-tails or even more conventional tailplanes? I've seen one or two blog posts with similar mods, but it seems all it does is save weight.


http://uavkes.blogspot.com <- our blog


Tags: inverted, v-tail
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Comments

  • Andrew Burns March 25, 2010 at 2:36pm
    We're going for that layout in our design because:
    - Twin boom pusher is safer to be around on the ground
    - V tail has slightly lower drag
    - No protruding cantilever structures (like fins) so it's stiffer and less likely to catch on things
    - Keeps more of the control surfaces up away from the prop wash, at least the middle of the prop wash
    - As you can see in that photo the top makes a good place to put antennae :P
  • Mike Bakula March 25, 2010 at 2:15pm
    I agree with stikmunkey, inverted-V provides some pro-verse yaw. If you size the elevons and set the v-angle correctly, you can get coordinated turns with little or no aileron, for your design condition. (And the twin-boom setup really is safer.)
  • Ryan March 25, 2010 at 2:08pm
    There isn't awhole lot of different between V-tail and Inverted V-tail. The calculation is the same. However inverted V-tail is slightly better for jaw control in coordinated turn.

    The main advantage with inverted V-tail when in use with twin boom aircraft design is for structure rigidity and of course help with protecting "genius" from the prop, and give you a place to push the plane :)

    That's a nice photo of the Shadow 200.
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