Structural Design and Simulation Research of an Air-Ground Amphibious UAV

Abstract

Aiming at the problems that traditional unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) can only operate in the air. An air‑ground amphibious UAV platform with variable structure and dual‑domain traffic capacity is designed to integrate the advantages of aerial flight and ground driving. An integrated wheel‑arm structure with four steering gear motors independently controlled and gear transmission integrated is innovative designed. The mechanical model of the frame is established and optimized, and strength verification is carried out to verify the rationality and safety margin of the structure. Under hovering condition, the maximum stress of the frame is 3.002MPa and the maximum displacement is 7.956×10⁻³ mm. After the connector is fixed with the wheel, the maximum stress is 1.325MPa and the maximum displacement is 2.956×10⁻² mm. Under static ground condition, the maximum stress of the wheel set is 0.5118MPa and the maximum displacement is 1.559×10⁻³ mm. The stress of each component is far lower than the allowable stress of carbon fiber and structural steel, meeting the strength and stiffness design requirements. Finally, prototype tests show that the platform can stably realize aerial hovering, ground driving and mode switching, with good air‑ground dual‑domain traffic capacity. The amphibious UAV designed in this study has both good aerial flight performance and ground mobility, providing a technical reference for the engineering realization of lightweight and high‑reliability unmanned platforms in logistics distribution, emergency rescue and other scenarios.