Agricultural Drone Sprayer

Agricultural Drone Sprayer CFD Simulation Training by ANSYS Fluent

Description

This project simulates an agricultural drone sprayer using ANSYS Fluent. The 3D geometry was designed in Design Modeler, with the plane's water storage defined as a water inlet and a planned flight angle of 0 degrees. The front side of the plane serves as the air entrance, all remaining sides are defined as pressure outlets, and the plane's body itself is treated as a wall. The domain was meshed in ANSYS Meshing, totaling 464,852 elements.

Methodology

The system involves two distinct fluids: air as the primary phase and a pesticide (referred to as toxin) as the secondary phase, defined with a density of 0.9512 kg/m³. The Eulerian multiphase model was used to capture the interaction between these two phases.

The pesticide enters the domain at 5 m/s, with gravity included at -9.81 m/s² along the y-axis, while the surrounding air moves at 15 m/s. Turbulence was resolved using the SST k-omega model.

Conclusion

Results include 2D velocity fields, air and water volume fraction contours, and simulation animation. The results show the pesticide dropping from the drone's cargo section, progressively interacting with the surrounding airflow as it falls, before ultimately reaching the ground and spreading across its surface — confirming the simulation's ability to capture the full spray dispersal process from release to ground coverage.