Development of a Composite Bendable-Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Johnson, Baron; Claxton, Daniel; Stanford, Bret; Jagdale, Vijay; Ifju, Peter

doi:10.2514/6.2007-1044

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Research into the field of MAVs has been active for a long time, yet understanding of its aerodynamics are more challenging in certain aspects. A plethora of literature exist on the aerodynamic investigation of MAVs but very few literature [1][2][3][6][7][8][9] are available which addresses the aerodynamics of MAVs under propeller induced flow. Null, Noseck and Shkarayev [1] in their attempt to study the effects of propeller induced flow on the aerodynamics of MAV, adopted a test methodology in which the dynamic thrust data were collected at the test velocity from the motor/propeller mounted on a pylon at 0 o angle of attack and the data was resolved into horizontal and vertical component for all the angles of attack the propelled MAV model was tested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of Lift and Drag Characteristics of a Typical MAV under Propeller Induced Flow

Durai

2014

International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles

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Experiments were conducted on a micro air vehicle (MAV) model in a low speed wind tunnel to study the actual lift and drag experienced by the model under propeller induced flow by separating out the thrust force generated by the propeller by decoupling the motor-propeller from the model and mounting it on a second arrangement with minimal flow interference. Tests were conducted on the model at actual flight conditions -at a freestream velocity of 9 m/s (Re = 135000 based on root chord) with the propeller running at speeds ranging from 8000 to 10000 rpm. The lift and drag coefficients obtained from the model with decoupled motor-propeller arrangement are compared to those obtained from the model with attached motor-propeller for the same test conditions and justification is made in favor of the former method. Effects of propeller induced flow with respect to an increase in propeller rpm on the lift and drag characteristics of the model were also studied. Higher C L at higher angle of attack and increased C D were observed for the model under propeller induced flow. With an increase in propeller rpm, the effects seen in C L and C D are increased further.Reynolds number rpm rotation per minute V ∞ freestream velocity α angle of attack (degree) INTRODUCTIONResearch into the field of MAVs has been active for a long time, yet understanding of its aerodynamics are more challenging in certain aspects. A plethora of literature exist on the aerodynamic investigation of MAVs but very few literature [1-3, 6-9] are available which addresses the aerodynamics of MAVs under propeller induced flow. Null, Noseck and Shkarayev [1] in their attempt to study the effects of propeller induced flow on the aerodynamics of MAV, adopted a test methodology in which the dynamic thrust data were collected at the test velocity from the motor/propeller mounted on a pylon at 0 o angle of attack and the data was resolved into horizontal and vertical component for all the angles of attack the propelled MAV model was tested. To decouple the direct forces created by the propeller on the total lift and drag measured on MAV model, the vertical component contributing to overall lift is subtracted from the lift data and the horizontal component contributing to forward thrust is added to the total drag data of the propelled MAV model. The results obtained shows that the propeller induced flow caused higher magnitudes of lift at higher angles of attack & delayed stall, but a detrimental effect on the drag coefficients, and a subsequent decrease in the lift-to-drag ratio at low angles of attack. However, they concluded that, due to the way the aerodynamic coefficients were calculated, the effects in the aerodynamic coefficients are partly a mathematical phenomenon. Experiments by Gamble and Reeder [2] on a MAV to study the propeller-wing interaction were

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of Lift and Drag Characteristics of a Typical MAV under Propeller Induced Flow

Durai

2014

International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles

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“…The researchers at the University of Florida have developed an impressive fleet of MAVs that utilize composite materials to make up adaptive wing structures. [13][14][15][16] These adaptive wings were demonstrated to enable sufficient maneuverability and also alleviate environmental disturbances. 13 The utilization of adaptive wings have been under investigation by a variety of researchers for years and have a long history in aviation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Warping Tail for MAV Applications

Votaw

Gaston

Brezina

et al. 2011

49th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition

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This paper examines a unique method of flight control for flapping wing micro air vehicles. Instead of employing rigid body joints and flaps for torsional agility, the technique implemented a compliant tail mechanism. The bio-inspired technique utilizes a flexible carbon fiber (CF) tail to mimic body posture changes of insects, specifically lateral abdomen deflections. This method of flight control was examined using Flytech's WowWee Dragonfly as an experimental platform. Trajectory analysis was done to generate a three dimensional flight path of the vehicle for examining flight characteristics. ANSYS FLUENT fluid dynamics software with GAMBIT and Solidworks CAD software were utilized to investigate aerodynamic torques and gravitational torques corresponding to active tail warping. The results provided evidences suggesting that the warping tail administered adequate control authority for basic maneuvering.

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“…Such wings are constructed from bidirectional plain weave graphite/epoxy composite shells, and can be rolled around the fuselage of the vehicle. This bendable wing concept has been demonstrated on vehicles that range in size from 6 to 36 inch (15 to 92 cm) wingspans and are capable of being packed within volumes of 3 -300 cubic inch [2,3] (50 -5000 cubic cm). Such a MAV/ UAV configuration is desirable for a number of potential applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bendable Load Stiffened Wing for Small UAVs

Jagdale¹,

Ifju²,

Stanford

et al. 2010

International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles

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A bendable load stiffened wing, developed at the University of Florida, has the ability to load stiffen in the positive flight load direction while remaining compliant in the opposite direction, enabling UAV storage inside smaller packing volumes. The wing employs an under-cambered airfoil with a swept planform providing dissimilar stiffness in the flight load and the folding direction. A comparative experimental study is performed using two wing geometries; straight camber and swept camber. The load stiffening ability is tested by performing three point bend tests while monitoring the wing root airfoil shape change using a visual image correlation technique. For the wing utilizing a swept camber design, increase in the root airfoil camber with increased loading resulted in a load stiffening structure. Swept camber wing showed a higher load carrying capacity (7 g's load factor) over a straight camber wing design (2 g's load factor), still maintaining the compliant nature in the folding direction. Long term storage induced creep deformations are small in both of the wing geometries. By increasing the wing stiffness, sweepback helps in reducing spanwise residual creep strain. Wind tunnel tests at Re = 7x10 4 of both the straight camber and the swept camber wing show similar L/D ratios. The sweepback helps in improving the static stability of the wing. Thus the bendable load stiffened wing has a clear advantage of offering stiffness improvement and reducing storage induced creep residual strains while maintaining the aerodynamic efficiency and improving the static stability of the wing. NOMENCLATURE a CLmaxangle of attack at maximum lift coefficient

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Development of a Composite Bendable-Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Cited by 13 publications

References 1 publication

Experimental Investigation of Lift and Drag Characteristics of a Typical MAV under Propeller Induced Flow

Experimental Investigation of Lift and Drag Characteristics of a Typical MAV under Propeller Induced Flow

Design and Analysis of a Bio-Inspired Warping Tail for MAV Applications

A Bendable Load Stiffened Wing for Small UAVs

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