Aeroelastic Analysis of Avian-Based Flexible Flapping Wings for Micro Air Vehicles
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2015 The American Helicopter Society. Experiments were systematically executed with a coupled computational fluid/structural dynamics aeroelastic analysis for a micro air vehicle scale flexible flapping-wing undergoing pure flap wing kinematics in forward flight. Two-dimensional time-resolved particle image velocimetry and force measurements were performed in a wind tunnel where V = 3 m/s, Reref = 15, 000.Chordwise velocity fields were obtained at equally spaced spanwise sections along the wing (30%-90% span) at the mid-downstroke and mid-upstroke of the flap cycle. The flow field measurements and averaged force measurements were used for the validation of the three-dimensional aeroelastic model. The computational fluid/structural dynamics analysis combined a compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver with a multibody structural solver. The objective of the combined efforts was to understand the force production of a flexible wing undergoing an avian-type flapping motion. The temporal and spanwise variation of wing pitch angle affected lift and drag and primarily aided in producing positive thrust during both upstroke and downstroke.