An Experimental Investigation on Wing Optimization for a Four-Wing Flapper

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Identifier/URL

42937722 (Pure)

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to study the flow characteristics of the flow around the flapping wings of a four-wing flapper as well as its lift and thrust coefficients. In the present study, a clap-and-fling type of four-wing flapper was designed and manufactured by using several flexible materials, such as PET film, latex and aluminized Mylar. Different cross-strut patterns and dimensions of wings were manufactured and tested for the optimization of wing designs. In addition to the lift and thrust measurements using a high sensitive force moment sensor unit, a high-resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system was employed to achieve detailed flow field measurements to quantify the evolution of the unsteady vortex flow structure around wings and in the downstream of the flapper. The force measurements were analyzed in correlation with the detailed flow measurements to elucidate underlying physics in order to improve our understanding for an optimized flexible wing design and better performance for flapping-wing micro air vehicle.

Comments

Presented at the 51st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition 2013 - Grapevine, TX, Jan 7 2013 - Jan 10 2013.

DOI

10.2514/6.2013-69


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