Free flight validation of a flexible-multi-body structural dynamics model of a bioinspired ornithopter
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abstract
There is currently a large effort underway to understand the physics of avian-based flapping wing vehicles, or ornithopters. There is a need for small aerial robots to conduct a variety of civilian and military mission scenarios. Efforts to model the flight physics of these vehicles have been complicated by a number of factors, including nonlinear elastic effects, multi-body characteristics, unsteady aerodynamics, and the strong coupling between fluid and structural dynamics. Experimental validation capabilities are crucial in order to achieve accurate simulation. A multi-disciplinary analysis methodology requires the evaluation of tools representing individual disciplines before they can be combined to form a comprehensive model. Analysis of inertial properties and fight data has led to the development of a multi-body dynamics model, where the ornithopter is modeled as a collection of chains of rigid body linkages emanating from a central fuselage. In the framework of this paper a flexible multi - body simulation and a novel experimental validation methodology is presented. To achieve high fidelity simulation and consider the flexibility of a flapping wing membrane, a Finite Element Approach (FEM) with a robust integration of the equations of motions (EOM) is used. The resulting ornithopter flight simulator is validated with experimental in flight data revealing the time history of the wing kinematics. 2013 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.
