AIAA SciTech Forum 10.2514/6.

2021-0964
11–15 & 19–21 January 2021, VIRTUAL EVENT
AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum

Influence of Coandă Blanket Curvature on

Coandă MAV Lift Generation Performance

Mohamad Arif Andira1 Ratih Julistina2

CCIT Group Indonesia, Depok, West Java, 16425, Indonesia

Harijono Djojodihardjo3
The Institute for the Advancement of Aerospace Science and Technology, Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Surface curvature is an important parameter that greatly affects the lift generation
performance of an aerodynamic body which has relative motion with respect to the fluid, as
demonstrated by airfoils and aircraft wings. Therefore, the influence of curvature of the
Coandă blanket on the lift generation performance of a Coandă MAV will be the focus of the
present investigation. Three types of curvature were analyzed utilizing a Coandă MAV with
selected constant baseline dimensional parameters. For proof of concept, a sixth degree
Bernstein polynomial representing an elliptical curve and a logarithmic spiral curve with 2
different characteristic coefficients have been utilized. These three configurations were tested
on 5 different aspect ratios from 0.7 to 1.0. To gain basic understanding of the principles of
Coandă MAV lift generation, including the relationship between relevant parameters, the
mathematical model for a semi-spherical Coandă MAV based on first principles as employed
in earlier works was utilized. Noting that the influence of viscosity is the essential factor that
will influence the performance of the Coandă MAV, here represented by the Performance
Measure defined earlier, CFD simulations were carried out and elaborated to verify as well as
to improve the lift generation performance as theoretically predicted for potential flow. The
CFD software used for this purpose is made available by CCIT Group Indonesia and utilizes
Menter SST k-ω turbulence model. Results obtained are considered encouraging in evaluating
the Coandă MAV lift generation, which will be further investigated in much detail in future
works.

I. Introduction
Micro aerial vehicle (MAV) is a class of UAVs that is small in size and weight. Although there is no stringent rule
regarding its size, the value is typically smaller than 15 cm [7]. The restrictive size makes MAVs handy to carry and
highly maneuverable. Moreover, the inherent size and weight properties of MAVs makes them very suitable for many
applications, including surveillance, reconnaissance, armed attacking, disaster mitigation, traffic and pollution
monitoring, remote utilities and pipelines inspection, and even selfie drone.
Coandă MAV emerges as one of the MAV concepts that utilizes Coandă effect which is defined as a tendency of
fluid jet to stay attached when it moves along a flat or curved surface. On top of the device, a propeller or a centrifugal
fan is mounted at the center axis to suck the free air and tangentially blows the air throughout the curved blanket. This
high-velocity jet flow will in turn entrain the surrounding air, deflect towards down-side, creates a low-pressure zone,
and stay attached until it leaves the surface or reaches stability breakdown which leads to flow separation. Whilst the
flow disturbances will occur at the bottom part of the device, it would still have a higher pressure relative to the upper
side and hence resulting in lift force necessary to withstand the weight of the device. Thus, for a Coandă MAV, lift is
produced in two ways. Firstly, due to the change of direction of the airflow downwards, and secondly, due to the
entrainment of air from above which causes a region of low pressure above the body.
Adoption of the Coandă effect for designing an unmanned aerial platform was first carried out by Henri Coandă,
where he created a Coandă UAV in 1932. Since then, the progressive advancement of the Coandă effect for developing
an unmanned aerial platform is continuously undertaken due to the several underlying motivations, such as the fact

Copyright © 2021 by Mohamad Arif Andira, Ratih Julistina, Harijono Djojodihardjo.

Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission.
 that this device is not as vulnerable as the conventional unmanned aerial platform when impacting against walls or
ceilings, safer operation due to the absence of external rotating parts, and the seamless stream of air because the
payload and other systems are covered up by the Coandă blanket [10]. In the case of performing a mission, it has a
relatively high cruise efficiency and at the same time provides hovering capability. However, the implementation of
the Coandă effect into an unmanned aerial robotic platform still gives rise challenges, particularly in hover motion. A
study was done by Schroijen et al. [11] illustrates that the hover efficiency of Coandă MAV is lower than both flapping
wing and rotary wing, whereas the Coandă MAV cruise efficiency outperforms the two previously mentioned
configurations. In short, this finding would argue the efficiency of Coandă MAV as an aerial robotic platform since
the operation of MAVs commonly entail the device to hover above the target for a period of time.
The study of Coandă MAV has been carried out extensively by the author. In the beginning, Djojodihardjo and
Ahmed analyzed the lift generation of a doughnut-shaped Coandă MAV by developing a preliminary mathematical
model and performing basic CFD simulations [1]. They further established the basic working relationships between
relevant variables and parameters governing the aerodynamics forces and performance measure of a Coandă MAV in
hover and translatory motion by means of analytical and CFD approaches [3]. Finally, Djojodihardjo summarized and
enhanced the works in an article presenting the overview of Coandă MAV as an aerial robotic platform [5]. Mirkov
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

et al. also conducted a related study by carrying out a numerical simulation study of air-jet attachment to convex walls
and its application to UAV [20], which produced insight into a general method for designing geometry curves of UAV
with the Coandă effect-based lift and concluded that the flow features around Coandă UAV are very complex and
need for further investigation. However, all of these related previous efforts still bequeath unresolved works. One of
the important problems is a necessity to more comprehensive understanding of the influence of Coandă blanket
curvature on lift generation performance along with the associated prevailing flow field around the device.
The objective of this paper is therefore to perform a meticulous study on the influence of Coandă blanket curvature
on lift generation performance of a Coandă MAV as a continuous endeavor of the author’s previous works. A
dimensionless variable named pressure difference-based performance measure (𝑃𝑀𝑝 ) is introduced to assess the
performance of the Coandă MAV lift generation, which is defined as the ratio between the output lift due to the
pressure difference between the upper and lower blanket to the rate of momentum input. The basic working
relationships among relevant variables and parameters governing the aerodynamics forces and performance measures
are elaborated. The varied blanket curvatures are sixth degree Bernstein polynomial as described by Mirkov et al. [20]
and logarithmic spiral curvature with 2 distinct coefficients representing the tightness and direction of the spirals [28].
To gain better understanding of the principle of Coandă MAV lift generation, a mathematical model for a generic
semi-spherical Coandă MAV was developed and analyzed from first physical principles. To gain further insight into
the prevailing flow field around the Coandă MAV, as well as to verify the theoretical prediction presented in this
work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out using CFDSOF® software, which is an
OpenFOAM® based CFD software with interactive graphical user interface developed by CCIT Group Indonesia.
Moreover, the authors tailored a specific full-hex parametric mesh generator program for creating Coandă MAV grids
to freely alter the geometric parameters so that the conventional and time-consuming CAD-meshing workflow can be
avoided.
The remaining part of this paper is structured as follows: Section II gives a brief overview of the Coandă effect
and Coandă MAV. Section III provides the Coandă geometric configuration employed in this study. Section IV is
devoted to elaborate the development of a mathematical model of a generic semi-spherical Coandă MAV, while
Section V explains the CFD simulations of a Coandă MAV. Afterwards, the preliminary results from the analytical
and computational study will be drawn and discussed in the subsequent section. Finally, section VII presents the
conclusion.

II. Brief Overview of the Coandă Effect and Coandă MAV

Coandă effect is a momentous flow phenomenon in which a jet of fluid tends to stick to and flow around flat or
curved solid surfaces. It was named after Romanian inventor Henri Coandă when he observed that the burned gas
exhausted from the engine on his new bi-planed aircraft evinced a propensity to remain very close to the fuselage.
Even if the aircraft was burned during its engine warm-up and things did not go as planned, this observation led him
to immediately began working on this phenomenon and invent practical applications [8].
Since its founding, the Coandă effect is at the standpoint where it can be harnessed as an effective flow control
method. The applications span from engineering to health science, among others, such as in aircraft and vehicle
technology [21], wind turbines [22, 23], and upper respiratory system [24, 25]. In the context of the aerial robotic
platform, Coandă effect has been on a design principle for various unmanned aerial vehicles, to mention but a few,

2
 the work that was documented and published by Bob Collins in 2002 [9], MEDIAS VTOL UAV which is a project of
a national grant from CNMP, and GFS/AESIR Coandă-effect UAV of a privately owned company AESIR Ltd [10].
In the Coandă effect phenomenon, a jet of fluid adjacent to solid surfaces tangentially blows along resulting in a
decreasing pressure relative to its surrounding. The jet will in turn draw the neighboring air molecules toward it and
stir them in the direction in which the jet is flowing. Consecutively, this pulled air region will encounter a drop in
pressure which value will be lower compared to the ambient condition. This physical process of drawing out the
surrounding air by the jet is referred to as entrainment. The pressure gradient normal to the solid surface is accordingly
developed and causes the jet flow to stay attached to the solid surface as depicted in Fig. 1. For the employment of the
Coandă effect to aerial robotic platforms, the lift is produced in two ways. Firstly, due to the change of direction of
the airflow downwards, and secondly, due to the entrainment of air from above which causes a region of low pressure
above the body while the bottom side still maintains a region of higher pressure.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

(a)
(b)

Fig. 1 Flow physics of the Coandă effect phenomenon. (a) Coandă Flow Characteristic (adapted from [27]),
(b) Flow structure. Images from [26].

In the light of the aforementioned concept, Coandă MAV is then defined as a type of micro aerial vehicles that
takes advantage of the Coandă effect to generate lift and thrust. Before proceeding any further, it is worth noting that
current MAVs are assigned to perform several missions, but primarily for observation tasks [11]. Payload which
consists of sensors for the observation is, therefore, an inevitable part of the device that must be transported to a desired
location and stay there for a required time in an efficient manner. A general mission profile for micro aerial vehicles
is illustrated in Figure 2 below.

Fig. 2 Typical MAVs mission profile. Image from [11].

Performing flight in a mission comprises of two flight phases; cruise to and from the target area and hover above
the observed target. The commonly used MAVs designed to fulfill these requirements are the fixed-wing and the
rotary-wing. The fixed-wing design exhibits high efficiency in cruising performance but does not have an adequate
ability to hover, which implies an impediment in carrying out an observation task. On the contrary, the rotary-wing
design outperforms fixed-wing in hover capability but is less efficient for executing forward flight. The third
alternative is flapping-wing which offers higher cruise efficiency than the rotary-wing but at the same time capable of
making hover flight. The major drawback of flapping-wing is its complexity due to the number of moving parts with
their mechanism and mechanical linkage. Coandă MAV is intended to fill this gap performance by proposing several
advantages; forward flight efficiency, hover capability, ability to reduce risk of damage of the systems since they are
covered up by the blanket, safer operation because the rotating parts are not directly exposed to the environment, and
simplicity since the number of moving parts is limited.

3
 Fig. 3 A Comparison of Coandă MAV qualitative performance to other unmanned aerial vehicles given by
Schroijen et al. [11]
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Fig. 4 Illustration of Coandă MAV design and its components

III. Coandă MAV Geometric Configuration

In this section, the Coandă MAV configurations selected for the present study and their parametric
representation are explained. Generally, this study made use of 2 methods for creating the geometries; Sixth-degree
Bernstein polynomial as employed by Basuo and Mirkov [20] and logarithmic spiral curve studied previously by Gan
et al. [28]. It is then one of the outputs of the work to make comparison of both methods from two separate prior
studies.
Firstly, the important note to be considered from the former reference is that any different airfoils, axially
symmetric bodies, and other more complex three-dimensional shapes (wing, fuselages, etc.) can be represented by
means of the class function and shape function within the ‘CST’ approach [15]. The class function determines a general
class of geometries, whereas the shape function aims to define particular shapes within the geometry class. The main
idea behind this method is to decompose the basic shape into scalable elements associated to discrete components by
representing the shape function with a Bernstein polynomial. The Bernstein polynomial of order n can be written as

𝑆𝑟,𝑛 (𝜓) = 𝐾𝑟,𝑛 𝜓 𝑟 (1 − 𝜓)𝑛−𝑟 (1)

𝑛 𝑛! (2)
𝐾𝑟,𝑛 ≡ ( ) ≡
𝑟 𝑟! (𝑛 − 𝑟)!

where factors 𝐾𝑟,𝑛 are binomial coefficients. Fig. 5 shows an example of unit function decomposition using Bernstein
polynomials of sixth degree. The geometry of cross section of a Coandă MAV is identical to elliptic-arc so that the
class function used in this study will be the function representing an elliptic arc,

𝜁(𝜓) = 𝐴𝜓 0.5 (1 − 𝜓)0.5 (3)

4
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Fig. 5 The unit function decomposition using sixth degree Bernstein polynomial. Image from [20].

Hence, the present numerical studies used geometry defined by the following expressions. The upper contour is
defined by

𝐶𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟 (𝜓) = 𝜁(𝜓)𝑆(𝜓) (4)

where

𝜁(𝜓) = 0.7𝜓 0.5 (1 − 𝜓)0.5 (5)

and
𝑆(𝜓) = 1 (6)

Here, the aspect ratio, i.e., the ratio between the Coandă MAV radius and its height is determined with the value 𝐴 of
0.7. Finally, the value of the parameter 𝜓 resides in the interval 𝜓 ∈ [0, 1]. The only difference with the work of
Basuo and Mirkov is that the current lower surface is a flat line.
In comparison to the Bernstein Polynomial curvature, the second method taken from the work of Gan et.al. uses a
combination of a flat plate of length 𝑙 and a logarithmic spiral curved written as the following polar equation

𝑟(𝜃) = 𝑎𝑒 𝑏𝜃 (7)

where 𝑎 denotes the aspect ratio (similar to 𝐴 in the Bernstein polynomial), 𝑏 guides the tightness and direction of the
spiral, and 𝜃 is calculated from 0 deg to 90 deg. The baseline configuration of a Coandă MAV utilizing this curvature
equation is depicted in Fig. 6 below.

5
 Fig. 6 The Coandă MAV baseline configuration using the logarithmic spiral curved equation.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Next, the conversion from polar coordinate to cartesian coordinate can be readily performed by using the following
equations

𝑥(𝑟, 𝜃) = 𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 (8)

𝑦(𝑟, 𝜃) = 𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 (9)

The present study varies the value of 𝑏 to be 0 and -0.3 subsequently. The negative value of 𝑏 causes the logarithmic
curve to be more outward but gives steeper transition from the flat plane to the curved surface. The three different
curvatures employed to investigate the influence of Coandă blanket curvature on the lift generation performance of a
Coandă MAV based on the sixth-degree Bernstein polynomial and the logarithmic spiral curve equation are visualized
in the following figure.

Fig. 7 Three different Coandă MAV curvatures used in the present study.

6
 IV. Mathematical Model for a Semi-Spherical Coandă MAV
The mathematical model of a semi-spherical Coandă MAV developed here is based on previous works of Ahmad
et al. [4] and Djojodihardjo [5]. It utilizes first physical principles and conservation equations to determine the amount
of lift generated by the Coandă MAV. Performance measure variable, denoted as 𝑃𝑀𝑝 , is introduced to assess the
performance of the generated lift due to the pressure difference with respect to the rate of momentum input.
Furthermore, the relationships between the relevant parameters of the mathematical model of the Coandă MAV to lift
generation are summarized subsequently.
Coandă MAV uses a propeller or a centrifugal fan that is mounted on top of the body at the center axis. For
conceptual development purposes, the small dimension of the rotor can be accepted as a valid assumption. The air
being drawn by the rotor will flow in radial direction throughout the Coandă blanket surface and is presumed to be
utilized entirely for lift generation. In deriving the mathematical model, the control volume is sketched covering the
simplified generic Coandă MAV model as illustrated by the red dashed line in Fig. 7.
In the present study, analyzing the Coandă effect for producing lift on a 3-dimensional Coandă MAV applies the
momentum conservation in the sense of Euler equation, which implies the ignorance of viscosity effect. The flow is
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

also assumed to be steady and incompressible. Considering these prevailing assumptions, the continuity equation
applied to the control volume enclosing the Coandă blanket can be written as

𝑚̇𝑖𝑛 = 𝑚̇𝑜𝑢𝑡 (10)

𝜌2𝜋𝑅𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 = 𝜌2𝜋𝑅𝑜 ℎ𝑜 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (11)

𝑅𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑚̇𝑖𝑛 (12)
𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑉 =
𝑅𝑜 ℎ𝑜 𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2𝜌𝜋𝑅𝑜 ℎ𝑜

Fig. 8 A semi-spherical Coandă MAV control volume for generic analysis

where 𝑉𝑗 represents the jet inlet velocity both into and out of the control volume. 𝑅 is the vehicle body radius, ℎ is the
jet slot thickness, and 𝑚̇ is the jet mass flow rate. The subscript 𝑖 and 𝑜 denote the inner and outer portion of the
Coandă blanket respectively. As depicted in Fig. 8, the Coandă blanket is exerted to the ambient static pressure 𝑝𝑎 ,
which then becomes the prevailing static pressure on it. The lift force can be determined by applying the momentum
equation in y (vertical) direction, which can be further classified into two components; vertical component of
momentum balance and pressure difference on the body.

7
 Fig. 9 Schematic of Coandă jet blanket for a spherical MAV momentum balance
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 (8)

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
( ) = (𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 ) + ( 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑀𝐴𝑉 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡 )
𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡
𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡

The lift force due to the vertical momentum flux balance throughout the control volume CV is given by

𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑢𝑡 (9)

𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒
( )= ( 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐶𝑉 𝑖𝑛 )+ ( 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑉 𝑖𝑛 )
𝑦 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦 − 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

Since, in the radial direction, the momentum in does not contribute to the lift, the momentum equation in the y-
direction for the CV depicted in Figure 8 is

𝐹𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑗𝑒𝑡 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡 = 𝑚̇𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝜌2𝜋𝑅𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (10)

The contribution of lift from the pressure difference between the upper (curved MAV body covered by Coandă
Blanket) and the lower part of the MAV body is rigorously elaborated in Harijono [5]. Figure 6 provides an illustration
regarding 𝜃𝑖 and 𝜃𝑜 , that are the turning angle at which the jet flow is injected to and is separated from the Coandă
surface respectively. The outflow jet velocity is assumed to be uniform in a such a way that the contribution of the
pressure difference across the Coandă blanket surface designed to generate lift for the significant value of 𝜃𝑖 is
expressed as
𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑉 (11)
𝑗−𝜃
𝐹𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 = 𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 − 𝐹𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 = 𝑚̇ ∫ 𝑑𝑅𝑗 = 𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (ln𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 − ln𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 )
𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑗

Hence, the total amount of lift generated by the Coandă MAV due to the Coandă jet vertical momentum and the
Coandă blanket pressure difference is

𝐿𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑀𝐴𝑉 = 𝜌2𝜋𝑅𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (ln𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 − ln𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 ) (12)

𝐿𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑀𝐴𝑉 = 𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 + 𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (ln𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 − ln𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 ) (13)

Therefore, the Coandă MAV has additional lift given in equation 9, due to the presence of the Coandă blanket, in
comparison to a simple micro air vehicle powered by actuator disk only. Also, solving equation 9 will directly give
the lift force value if the value of 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 is known. However, the case is that 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 appears as an unknown variable
that must be determined before calculating the Coandă MAV lift. Consequently, a more exact approach requires
additional information, i.e. the energy conservation equation, which is then employed as the fourth equation. Applying
the energy conservation on the same control volume, assuming uniform properties across the sectional areas at the

8
 input and output of the Coandă jet blanket and ignoring the entrainment energy exchange between the ambient air and
the Coandă jet blanket, the energy equation can be written as

𝑝 1 2 𝑝 1 2 (14)
( ) + 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 = ( ) + 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝜌 𝑖𝑛 2 𝜌 𝑜𝑢𝑡 2

which is essentially the Bernoulli equation along any streamline between the inlet and the outlet sections. The
contribution of the entrainment energy exchange along the Coandă jet blanket can later be incorporated, such as by
adopting certain assumptions as a heuristic approach. It can also be done by applying the complete viscous equation
by numerical simulation or CFD approach which will be carried out for more meticulous study in the subsequent
section, using the present simplified analytical approach as guidelines.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Fig. 10 Schematic of the energy conservation of a Coandă jet blanket

Using Fig. 7 as a basis and noting that from the outset, the flow is considered to be incompressible, since 𝑝𝑖𝑛 = 𝑝𝑜𝑢𝑡 =
𝑝𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 , and 𝑚̇𝑖𝑛 = 𝑚̇𝑜𝑢𝑡 , equation 10 can be reduced to

1 2 1 2 (15)
𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 = 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡
2 2

or
𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 = 𝑉𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (16)

This equation should significantly simplify the solution given in equation 9. Substituting equation 12 to equation 9
yields

𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (17)
𝐿𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑀𝐴𝑉 = 𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (1 + ln )
𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛

The coefficient of lift is obtained by simply dividing the lift force by the dynamic pressure times wetted area of Coandă
blanket given by

𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (18)
𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (1 + ln )
𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛
𝐶𝐿𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑀𝐴𝑉 =
1 2
𝜌𝑉 𝑆
2 𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡

The solution of equation 13 and 14 will be verified by using CFD simulations, which incorporate the viscous effect
through the use of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation. It is now convenience to assess the performance of

9
 the generated lift by Coandă MAV during hover and lift-off through the introduction of a non-dimensional quantities
of performance measure. For this purpose, the Coandă jet momentum coefficient defined by Poisson-Quinton [22] as
2
𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2𝜋𝑅𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝜌𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (19)
𝐶𝜇 = =
1 2 1 2
𝜌𝑉 𝑆 𝜌𝑉 𝑆
2 𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡 2 𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑡

or

2𝜋𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝜌𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2 ℎ𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2 ℎ𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2 (20)

𝐶𝜇−𝑅𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 = = 4( )( ) ≡ 4( )( )
1 𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝑈𝑅 𝑅𝑅 𝑈𝑅
𝜋𝑅𝑅 2 𝜌𝑈𝑅 2
2
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Performance Measure PM can be defined as the Total Lift/ Rate of Momentum Input, and is an indicator of the
effectiveness of the Coandă jet device (MAV) to produce lift from rotor-like momentum rate input from the ambient
air. In these earlier references, a heuristic model for the total lift was assumed. Physically, the performance measure
𝑃𝑀 delineates the amplification of the input force through fluid mechanics mechanism which is an analogy the notion
of lever in engineering equipment. From the analytical point of view, the performance measure value will always be
greater than one since the outer radius of the Coandă MAV blanket is larger than the inner radius. This also needs to
be verified with CFD simulations which accounts for viscous force in the momentum equation resulting in a variation
of velocity in the normal direction to the Coandă wall, in contrast with the derivation of the mathematical model where
the velocity is assumed to be uniform along a certain streamline.

𝑅𝐽−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (21)
𝑚̇𝑉𝐽−𝑖𝑛 (1 + 𝑙𝑛 )
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑅𝐽−𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝐽−𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝑃𝑀𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑ă = = = (1 + 𝑙𝑛 )
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑓𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑ă 2𝜋𝑅𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝜌𝐽 𝑉𝐽.𝑖𝑛 2 𝑅𝐽−𝑖𝑛

The Performance Measure PM can alternatively be written in terms of momentum coefficient as

𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑗−𝑜𝑢𝑡 (22)

𝑚̇𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 (1 + 𝑙𝑛 ) (1 + 𝑙𝑛 )
𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑡 𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝐽−𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2 𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛
𝑃𝑀𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑ă = = ≈ 4
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑓𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡𝐶𝑜𝑎𝑛𝑑ă 2𝜋𝑅𝑗−𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑗−𝑖𝑛 𝜌𝐽 𝑉𝑗−𝑖𝑛 2 𝑅𝐽−𝑖𝑛 𝑈𝑅 2 𝐶𝜇−𝑅𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟

which is valid for a Coandă MAV configuration with actuator (rotor) dedicated to produce Coandă Jet Blanket.

V. CFD Simulations of Coandă MAV

CFD simulations were performed using CFDSOF® software developed by CCIT Group Indonesia based on
OpenFOAM® with several enhancements and integrated interactive graphical user interface. Moreover, a specific
mesh generator was developed and derived from the main software for the purpose of this research. The motivation
was to efficiently tackle the parametrized geometrical problem of a Coandă MAV. By utilizing this program, one only
needs to input geometrical parameters, such as Coandă MAV radius, height, jet slot thickness, inner diameter, or even
curvature type and the program will automatically generate O-type multiblock structured grid with the ability to
control the mesh distribution and spacing across the domain.
The 2D-axisymmetric domain is used to reduce computational cost and preserve mesh quality. Furthermore, the
layer cells were carefully added near the Coandă MAV wall, including the calculation of 𝑦 + value to determine the
first cell height required to accurately capture near-wall behavior for the particular turbulence model. To compute the
flow field in an efficient manner, the mesh is refined near the walls and get coarser towards the far-field. Before
performing further numerical studies, grid independence test was conducted for testing three mesh configurations with
number of cells of 54560, 75040, and 116160 respectively against the performance measure based on pressure
difference (𝑃𝑀𝑝 ). The second mesh was chosen to be used for the rest of CFD simulations considering the difference
from the highest number of cells was only below 4% with lower computational cost and time.

10
 The flow is assumed to be steady, incompressible, viscous, and turbulent. Hence, the appropriate mathematical
model for this study is the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations with Menter’s 𝑘 − 𝜔 Shear-Stress
Transport turbulence model. These governing equations are discretized using cell-centered second-order accurate
finite volume method. The pressure-velocity coupling in the case of incompressible flow is solved iteratively using
SIMPLE algorithm [16]. Since in the incompressible flow, the important variable is the pressure difference and not
the absolute value of the pressure itself, thus the far-field boundary is set to have 0 Pa static pressure. The Coandă jet
enters the domain through the Coandă inlet with the size of ℎ as depicted in Fig. 10 with specified velocity value.
Finally, aerodynamic forces acting on the Coandă MAV body are calculated by integrating pressure and viscous forces
over the Coandă blanket. To obtain the 3-dimensional forces, the resulting forces from axisymmetric simulation are
integrated rotationally over the Coandă MAV circumference.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

(b)

(a)

Fig. 11 (a) 2D O-grid axisymmetric domain; (b) clustered mesh near the Coandă MAV surface

Fig. 12 Grid independence test result

11
 VI. Results and Discussion

The influence of Coandă blanket curvature on Coandă MAV lift generation performance will be discussed in this
section by means of computational fluid dynamics simulation study. The analysis begins with observing the following
graphic.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Fig. 13 Pressure-based Performance Measure CFD result

Fig. 13 above depicts the pressure-based Performance Measure (𝑃𝑀𝑝 ) with respect to the ratio between Coandă
MAV Height (𝐻) and Coandă MAV Radius (𝑅), or aspect ratio. In general, all types of curve exhibit similar trend
where for each aspect ratio, the sixth-degree Bernstein polynomial (red curve) has the lowest value of 𝑃𝑀𝑝 , followed
by the logarithmic spiral curve for characteristic coefficient 𝑏 of 0 (blue curve) and -0.3 (green curve) respectively.
The exception occurs for the aspect ratio of 1 where the red curve and blue curve almost coincide, meaning they only
have a very small difference. However, this is not the case for the green curve since it has a much greater value than
others. This finding can be explained by looking at the Fig. 14 representing the three curvatures at aspect ratio of 1.

Fig. 14 Coandă MAV blanket curvature at 𝑯/𝑹 = 1

12
 Based on the Fig. 7 and Fig. 14, choosing 𝑏 equals to zero gives a smooth curvature with some portion of flat line,
which value will get smaller as aspect ratio increases. Therefore, when the aspect ratio is 1, the logarithmic curve with
zero 𝑏 coefficient will mimic the ellipse curvature. This geometric behavior also can explain why there is a steep
change on blue curvature from aspect ratio 0.8 to 0.9.
One important point from this observation is that the curvature consists of a flat line will produce higher
aerodynamic lift, and thus higher lift generation performance as has been proven by the logarithmic spiral curvatures.
To obtain more insight about this phenomenon, pressure coefficient distribution along the Coandă blanket is visualized
through a number of graphics as follows.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

Fig. 15 Cp distribution along Coandă MAV blanket at 𝑯/𝑹 = 0.7

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 16 Cp distribution along Coandă MAV blanket at 𝑯/𝑹 = 0.7. (a) sixth-degree Bernstein polynomial
(ellipse), (b) logarithmic spiral curve with b=0, (c) logarithmic spiral curve with b=-0.3

13
 From the sequence of pressure distribution illustrations above, it can be observed that the flat surface has a very low-
pressure zone and more uniform pressure distribution across the curved blanket which are favorable for enhancing
aerodynamic lift generation performance. Furthermore, the magnitude of static pressure coefficient distribution is also
greater for the logarithmic configurations, so that the resulting vacuum pressure in y-direction will be higher which
indicates the device will gain better aerodynamic lift. In contrast, the magnitude of static pressure coefficient
distribution on the ellipse curvature depicts lower value in the y-direction and increases on the side of the blanket in
which the direction will not have much contribution to the overall aerodynamic lift. Hence, this type of curve will
have lower lift generation performance.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 17 Velocity magnitude contour around the Coandă MAV at 𝑯/𝑹 = 0.7. (a) sixth-degree Bernstein
polynomial (ellipse), (b) logarithmic spiral curve with b=0, (c) logarithmic spiral curve with b=-0.3

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 18 Static pressure contour around the Coandă MAV at 𝑯/𝑹 = 0.7. (a) sixth-degree Bernstein polynomial
(ellipse), (b) logarithmic spiral curve with b=0, (c) logarithmic spiral curve with b=-0.3

Fig. 17 and Fig. 18 complement the discussion of the results by providing the flow field contour in terms of velocity
magnitude and static pressure. The notable feature from the velocity contour is the flow deflection by the Coandă is
different for the three configurations. The ellipse curve tends to bend the air in a straight manner in negative y-direction
while the logarithmic curve steers the air flow toward the symmetry axis.

14
 VII. Conclusion

The influence of varying Coandă blanket curvature has been studied for three different configurations. The first
design is based on the sixth-degree Bernstein polynomial, with particularly chosen coefficients can represent an
ellipse. The other configurations are employed the logarithmic spiral curvature with some portion of flat surface, with
2 distinct characteristic coefficients. It can be concluded that the lift generation performance is significantly affected
by the device curvature. In particular, a curvature with flat surface and steeper side results a better performance due
to the wider vacuum pressure zone on the top flat surface and more uniform and favorable, higher magnitude pressure
coefficient distribution across the blanket. Moreover, the same configuration can produce a greater amount of lift by
reducing the aspect ratio, i.e., the ratio between the Coandă height and Coandă radius. However, this study still left
several things to be possibly done in the future, such as exploring another class of curvature, studying the effect of
lower blanket curvature, as well as more detailed analysis of the flow field, including the jet width growth and
boundary layer separation point.

Acknowledgments
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the CCIT Group Indonesia for providing the full license of
CFDSOF® software during this research. This research also has been partially funded by CCIT Group Indonesia and
the Institute for the Advancement of Aerospace Science and Technology “Persada Kriyeka Dirgantara”.

References
[1] Djojodihardjo, H., Ahmed, R. I., “An Analysis on the Lift Generation for Coandă Micro Air Vehicles,” IEEE International
Conference on Aerospace Electronics and Remote Sensing, Yogyakarta, 2014.
doi: 10.13140/2.1.2150.4320
[2] Ahmed, R, I., Djojodihardjo, H., Abu Talib, A. R., Abd Hamid, M. F., “Application of Coandă Jet for Generating Lift for Micro
Air Vehicles – Preliminary Design Considerations,” Applied Mechanics and Materials, Vol. 629, 2014, pp. 139-144.
doi: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.629.139
[3] Djojodihardjo, H., Ahmed, R. I., “Analytical, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Flight Dynamics of Coandă MAV,”
International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Automation Science, Singapore, 2016.
doi: 10.1088/1757-899X/157/1/012002
[4] Djojodihardjo, H., Ahmed, R. I., Abu Talib, A. R., Mohd Rafie, A. S., “First Principles Analysis of Coandă Micro Air Vehicle
Aerodynamic Forces for Preliminary Sizing,” Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 89, No. 2, 2017, pp. 231-
245.
[5] Djojodihardjo, H., Overview of Coandă MAV as an Aerial Robotic Platform, Aerial Robots-Aerodynamics, Control and
Applications, IntechOpen, London, 2017.
doi: 10.5772/intechopen.70157
[6] Kurtulus, D. F., “Introduction to Micro Air Vehicles: Concepts, Design and Applications,” Recent developments in unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS, including UAV and MAV), edited by R. Decuypere and M. Carbonaro, Von Karman Institute for Fluid
Dynamics, Sint-Genesius-Rode, Belgium, 2011.
[7] Michelson, R. C., “Overview of Micro Air Vehicle System Design and Integration Issues,” Encyclopedia of Aerospace
Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2010.
doi: 10.1002/9780470686652.eae401
[8] Ahmed, N. A., Coandă Effect: Flow Phenomenon and Applications. CRC Press, Florida, 2019.
[9] Collins, B., “Coandă – A new Airspace Platform for UAVs,” Bristol International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems
Conferences, Bristol, 2002.
doi: 10.13140/2.1.1544.0003
[10] Nodelcut, F., “Coandă Effect UAV - a New Born Baby in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Family,” Review of the Air Force
Academy, Vol. 17, 2010.
doi: 10.13140/2.1.1544.0003
[11] Schroijen, N., van Tooren, M., “MAV Propulsion System using the Coandă Effect,” AIAA /ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion
Conference & Exhibit, Colorado, 2009, pp. 1-10.
doi: 10.2514/6.2009-4809
[12] Najafi, M., Jahanmiri, M., “An Innovative Technique to Increase Lift of a Coandă UAV,” IOSR Journal of Mechanical and
Civil Engineering, Vol. 14, 2017, pp. 27-35.
doi: 10.9790/1684-1402012735
[13] Senthil Kumar, T. R., “Design and Analysis of Micro Propeller and Wing Planform for Micro Flyers,” Symposium on Applied
Aerodynamics and Design of Aerospace Vehicle, Vol. 2, Bangalore, 2011.
[14] Kulfan, B. M., “Recent Extensions and Applications of the “CST” Universal Parametric Geometry Representation Method,”
AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration and Operations Conference, AIAA, Belfast, 2007.
doi: 10.2514/6.2007-7709

15
 [15] Kulfan, B. M., “Universal Parametric Geometry Representation Method,” Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 45, No. 1, 2008.
doi: 10.2514/1.29958
[16] Patankar, S. V., “Numerical Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer,” Series in computational methods in mechanics and thermal
sciences, Taylor & Francis, Oxfordshire, 2018.
[17] Menter, F. R., “Two-Equation Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models for Engineering Applications,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 32, No.
8, 1994.
doi: 10.2514/3.12149
[18] Menter, F. R., Kuntz, M., Langtry, R., “Ten Years of Industrial Experience with the SST Turbulence Model,” Proceedings of
the Fourth International Symposium on Turbulence, Heat and Mass Transfer, edited by Hanjalic, K, Nagano, Y and Tummers,
M, Vol. 4, Antalya, 2003.
[19] Shams, T. A., Ali Shah, S. I., Ahmad, M. A., “Study of Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics for Low Aspect Ratio MAV
Wing,” Proceedings of the 21st IEEE International Multi Topic Conference (INMIC 2018), IEEE, Karachi, 2018.
doi: 10.1109/INMIC.2018.8595544
[20] Mirkov, N., Rasuo, B., “Numerical Simulation of Air Jet Attachment to Convex Walls and Applications to UAV,” Boundary
and Interior Layers, Computational and Asymptotic Methods – BAIL 2014, edited by Knobloch, P, Lecture Notes in
Computational Science and Engineering, Springer, Praha, 2014, pp. 197-207.
Downloaded by Mohamad Arif Siswantara on January 14, 2021 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2021-0964

doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-25727-3_15
[21] Gad-el-Hak, M., Flow Control: Passive, Active, and Reactive Flow Management, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
England, 2007.
[22] Tongchitpakdee, C., Benjanirat, S., Sankar, L. N., “Numerical Studies of the Effects of Active and Passive Circulation
Enhancement Concepts on Wind Turbine Performance,” AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA, Reno, 2006.
[23] Tongchitpakdee C., “Computational studies of the effects of active and passive circulation enhancement concepts on wind
turbine performance,” Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Aerospace Engineering., Georgia Institute of Technology., Atlanta,
GA, 2007.
[24] Djojodihardjo, H., Ahmed, R. I., “CFD Simulation of Coandă Effect on the Upper Respiratory System,” Journal of Medical
Imaging and Health Informatics, Vol. 6, No. 6, 2016, pp. 1526-1535.
[25] Scheinherr, A., “Glottal motion and its impact on airflow and aerosol deposition in upper airways during human breathing,”
Ph.D. Dissertation, Institut de Recherchesur les Phénomènes Hors Équilibre, Ecole Centrale du Marseille, Marseille, 2015.
[26] Dumitrache, A, Frunzulica, F and Ionescu, T.C., Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Investigations on the Coandă Effect,
INTECH 2012.
[27] S. Cutbill, A study of the turbulent flow of a high speed Coandă jet, PhD Thesis, U Durham, 1998.
[28] Gan, C., Sahari, K. S., Tan, S., “Numerical investigation on Coanda flow over a logarithmic surface,” Journal of Mechanical
Science and Techonology, Vol. 29, No. 7, 2015, pp. 2863-2869.

16