Preliminary Design and Computational Fluid Dynamic analysis of Flapping Wing of Micro Aerial Vehicle for Low Reynolds Numbers Regime

Abstract

This research describes the investigation of the behavior of the flow over a 2D Flapping airfoil for flapping wing of Micro Aerial Vehicles (FWMAV) at very low Reynolds number regieme. The behavior of the flow wake at the trailing edge is studied by the analysis of streamlines for each incidence angle and results are compared by the study of two different flapping airfoils at two different fluids. The use of Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) simulation has shown accuracy in predicting lift and drag forces at different angles of attack for upstroke and down stroke. This work simulates a classical flow pattern (Von Karman Street) that can form as fluid flows past a flapping NACA0012 airfoil, and S1223 airfoil at low Reynolds numbers and low velocities. These two airfoils have been selected and investigated by using basic computational fluid dynamics and fluid structure interaction modules. The S1223 airfoil, designed by University of Illinois at Urbana and the NACA0012 airfoil were selected for their high lift characteristics at low Reynolds number regime. Simulations were also conducted to check the lift and drag forces for both airfoils at low Reynolds number regime. Velocity distributions were analyzed at different angles of attack for these airfoils. The magnitude and the frequencies of the oscillation generated by the fluid around the airfoils were computed and compared between the airfoils.

Fully-printed metamaterial-type flexible wings with controllable flight characteristics

“…The accessibility and rapid development of additive manufacturing technologies together with constantly decreasing associated production costs can make 3D-printed wings a versatile solution for the macro air vehicles when the flyer weight is non-negligible, e.g. for devices equipped with cameras, microphones, sensors or detectors [26]. Also, heavy-weight wings with controllable properties can be suitable for other lowfrequency applications, beyond flying robots.…”

“…We consider flapping motions that are crucial for survival, communication, and biological functions of small insects [2,44]. Besides, understanding the flapping flight is the key to design artificial flying devices with flexible wings that can successfully fly and adapt to changing environmental conditions [9,26,31].…”

“…The kinematics of a flexible wing and its effect on the flying performance have been studied by means of simplified [22][23][24][25][26] and full-scale three-dimensional models [17,18,20,[27][28][29][30]. It appeared that flexible wings have a number of aerodynamic advantages as compared to rigid counterparts, especially, for low-Reynolds-number flights [22,23].…”

Fluid Flow Induced by an Elastic Plate in Heaving Motion

“…A number of studies on the flow around flapping wings or fins at low Reynolds number have been carried out in recent years [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Since the flow interaction with flexible flapping wings is complex, there is a need to understand the flow field of flexible structures.…”