The sensitivity of aerodynamic forces in a bird-like flapping wing was numerically studied by analyzing the aerodynamic force states under different parameters. First, the physical model and the kinematic model of the bird-like flapping wing were separately established. Then the aerodynamic force model was established and some important parameters were analyzed by adopting the Taguchi orthogonal method. Finally, a simulation was carried out, from which the order of the parameters was separately determined according to the parameters' effect on lift or thrust. The results showed that increasing the flapping frequency is one of the most important ways to increase lift and thrust. The lift can be increased by increasing the flight velocity, while the thrust can be increased by increasing the maximum flapping angle. The lift or the thrust becomes larger when the incidence angle is approximately 35 or 55 .
The flight mechanism of a bird-like flapping wing robot at a low Reynolds number was studied in this study for improving the robot performances. Both the physical model and the kinematic model were first established. The dynamic model of the robot at a low Reynolds number was built with the RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) equations and the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model. The flight experiments were carried out and the results were discussed. Lift and drag coefficient curves show that it generates upward lift and forward thrust in the phase that the wing flaps downwards, the rate of the coefficient curves is the biggest when the flapping direction changes. Pressure contours indicate that small vortexes with high pressure values appear at the wing edges. There are four velocity vortex groups in total at the front and back of the wing in the velocity contours. Some methods for improving the robot flight efficiency and the robot strength as well as the stitching position of the robot skin have been obtained from the above results. The methods provide the important guidance for the stable flights of the flapping wing robot with the high efficiency.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.