The thrust efficiency of a two-dimensional heaving airfoil is studied computationally for a low Reynolds number using a vortex force decomposition. The auxiliary potentials that separate the total vortex force into lift and drag (or thrust) are obtained analytically by using an elliptic airfoil. With these auxiliary potentials, the added-mass components of the lift and drag (or thrust) coefficients are also obtained analytically for any heaving motion of the airfoil and for any value of the mean angle of attack α. The contributions of the leading- and trailing-edge vortices to the thrust during their down- and up-stroke evolutions are computed quantitatively with this formulation for different dimensionless frequencies and heave amplitudes (Stc and Sta) and for several values of α. Very different types of flows, periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic described as Stc, Sta, and α, are varied. The optimum values of these parameters for maximum thrust efficiency are obtained and explained in terms of the interactions between the vortices and the forces exerted by them on the airfoil. As in previous numerical and experimental studies on flapping flight at low Reynolds numbers, the optimum thrust efficiency is reached for intermediate frequencies (Stc slightly smaller than one) and a heave amplitude corresponding to an advance ratio close to unity. The optimal mean angle of attack found is zero. The corresponding flow is periodic, but it becomes chaotic and with smaller average thrust efficiency as |α| becomes slightly different from zero.
We analyse the effects of the air ambient temperature on the airflow across a Caucasian nasal cavity under different ambient temperatures using CFD simulations. A three-dimensional nasal model was constructed from high-resolution computed tomography images for a nasal cavity from a Caucasian male adult. An exhaustive parametric study was performed to analyse the laminar-compressible flow driven by two different pressure drops between the nostrils and the nasopharynx, which induced calm breathing flow rates ࣈ 5.7 L/min and ࣈ 11.3 L/min. The inlet air temperature covered the range - 10(o) C ⩽ To ⩽50(o) C. We observed that, keeping constant the wall temperature of the nasal cavity at 37(o) C, the ambient temperature affects mainly the airflow velocity into the valve region. Surprisingly, we found an excellent linear relationship between the ambient temperature and the air average temperature reached at different cross sections, independently of the pressure drop applied. Finally, we have also observed that the spatial evolution of the mean temperature data along the nasal cavity can be collapsed for all ambient temperatures analysed with the introduction of suitable dimensionless variables, and this evolution can be modelled with the help of hyperbolic functions, which are based on the heat exchanger theory.
Inspired by the efficiency of soaring birds in crossing very large distances with barely flap their wings, this work presents a simple model of UAV that, adopting the capabilites of these animals, could improve the existent multi-rotor devices, not only in efficiency but also in safety and accessibility. Thus, simple analytical approximations to reproduce the behavior of flapping wings UAVs are explored, expecting their integration in on-board CPUs to be solved in real-time flight episodes. A comparison between gliding and wing flapping with these models indicates that the thrust generated by wingstrokes should be controlled in further studies in order to mitigate the oscillations along the path of the vehicle. The geometric parameters of the ornithopter are found to be decisive in this sense, so special attention should be paid during the design stage.
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