Unsteady characteristic research on aerodynamic interaction of slotted wingtip in flapping kinematics

The slotted wingtip structure of birds is considered to be the product of improving flight efficiency in the process of evolution. It can change the vortex structure of wingtip and improve aerodynamic efficiency. This paper reports a numerical investigation of slotted wing configuration undergoing bio-inspired flapping kinematics(consisting of plunging and in-line movement)extracted from a free-flying bald eagle wing. The aim is to eluci-date the collective mechanism of the flow generated by slo...     

Aerodynamic Interactions Between Contralateral Wings and Between Wings and Body of a Model Insect at Hovering and Small Speed Motions

In this paper, we study the aerodynamic interactions between the contralateral wings and between the body and wings of a model insect, when the insect is hovering and has various translational and rotational motions, using the method numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations over moving overset grids. The aerodynamic interactional effects are identified by compar-ing the results of a complete model insect, the corresponding wing pair, single wing and body without the wings. Horizontal, vertical and lateral translations and roll, pitch and yaw rotations at small speeds are considered. The results indicate that for the motions considered, both the interaction between the contralateral wings and the interaction between the body and wings are weak. The changes in the forces and moments of a wing due to the contralateral wing interaction, of the wings due to the pres-ence of the body, and of the body due to the presence of the wings are generally less than 4.5%. Results show that aerodynamic forces of wings and body can be measured or computed separately in the analysis of flight stability and control of hovering in-sects.     

Reynolds-number scaling analysis on lift generation of a flapping and passive rotating wing with an inhomogeneous mass distribution

Insects usually fly by passively rotating wings,which has been applied to the design of flapping-wing Micro-Air Vehicles(MAVs) to reduce mechanical complexity.In this paper,a robotic passive rotating-wing model is designed to investigate wing kinematics and lift generation,which are measured by a high-speed camera and a force transducer,respectively.In addition,flow fields are measured using the Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV).Experimental results demonstrate that passive rotating motion has a c...     

Optimization of aerodynamic efficiency for twist morphing MAV wing

Twist morphing(TM) is a practical control technique in micro air vehicle(MAV) flight.However, TM wing has a lower aerodynamic efficiency(CL/CD) compared to membrane and rigid wing. This is due to massive drag penalty created on TM wing, which had overwhelmed the successive increase in its lift generation. Therefore, further CL/CDmaxoptimization on TM wing is needed to obtain the optimal condition for the morphing wing configuration. In this paper, two-way fluid–structure interaction(FSI) simulation and wind tunnel testing method are used to solve and study the basic wing aerodynamic performance over(non-optimal) TM, membrane and rigid wings. Then,a multifidelity data metamodel based design optimization(MBDO) process is adopted based on the Ansys-DesignXplorer frameworks. In the adaptive MBDO process, Kriging metamodel is used to construct the final multifidelity CL/CDresponses by utilizing 23 multi-fidelity sample points from the FSI simulation and experimental data. The optimization results show that the optimal TM wing configuration is able to produce better CL/CDmaxmagnitude by at least 2% than the non-optimal TM wings. The flow structure formation reveals that low TV strength on the optimal TM wing induces low CDgeneration which in turn improves its overall CL/CDmaxperformance.     

Experimental investigation of influence of strake wings on self-induced roll motion at high angles of attack

The modern high performance air vehicles are required to have extreme maneuverability,which includes the ability of controlled maneuvers at high angle of attack. However, the nonlinear and unsteady aerodynamic phenomena, such as flow separation, vortices interaction, and vortices breaking down, will occur during the flight at high angle of attack, which could induce the uncommanded motions for the air vehicles. For the high maneuverable and agile air missile, the nonlinear roll motions would occur at the high angle of attack. The present work is focused on the selfinduced nonlinear roll motion for a missile configuration and discusses the influence of the strake wings on the roll motion according to the results from free-to-roll test and PIV measurement using the models assembled with different strake wings at a = 60°. The free-to-roll results show that the model with whole strake wings(baseline), the model assembled with three strake wings(Case A)and the model assembled with two opposite strake wings(Case C) experience the spinning, while the model assembled with two adjacent strake wings(Case B), the model assembled with one strake wing(Case D) and the model with no strake wing(Case E) trim or slightly vibrate at a certain "×"rolling angle, which mean that the rolling stability can be improved by dismantling certain strake wings. The flow field results from PIV measurement show that the leeward asymmetric vortices are induced by the windward strake wings. The vortices would interact the strake wings and induce crossflow on the downstream fins to degrade the rolling stability of the model. This could be the main reason for the self-induced roll motion of the model at a = 60°.     

Aerodynamic Design Methodology for Blended Wing Body Transport

This paper puts forward a design idea for blended wing body(BWB).The idea is described as that cruise point,maximum lift to drag point and pitch trim point are in the same flight attitude.According to this design idea,design objectives and constraints are defined.By applying low and high fidelity aerodynamic analysis tools,BWB aerodynamic design methodology is established by the combination of optimization design and inverse design methods.High lift to drag ratio,pitch trim and acceptable buffet margin can be achieved by this design methodology.For 300-passenger BWB configuration based on static stability design,as compared with initial configuration,the maximum lift to drag ratio and pitch trim are achieved at cruise condition,zero lift pitching moment is positive,and buffet characteristics is well.Fuel burn of 300-passenger BWB configuration is also significantly reduced as compared with conventional civil transports.Because aerodynamic design is carried out under the constraints of BWB design requirements,the design configuration fulfills the demands for interior layout and provides a solid foundation for continuous work.     

Gain self-scheduled H_∞ control for morphing aircraft in the wing transition process based on an LPV model

This article investigates gain self-scheduled H 1 robust control system design for a tailless fold- ing-wing morphing aircraft in the wing shape varying process. During the wing morphing phase, the aircraft’s dynamic response will be governed by time-varying aerodynamic forces and moments. Nonlinear dynamic equations of the morphing aircraft are linearized by using Jacobian linearization approach, and a linear parameter varying (LPV) model of the morphing aircraft in wing folding is obtained. A multi-loop controller for the morphing aircraft is formulated to guarantee stability for the wing shape transition process. The proposed controller uses a set of inner-loop gains to provide stability using classical techniques, whereas a gain self-scheduled H 1 outer-loop controller is devised to guarantee a specific level of robust stability and performance for the time-varying dynamics. The closed-loop simulations show that speed and altitude vary slightly during the whole wing folding process, and they converge rapidly after the process ends. This proves that the gain self-scheduled H 1 robust controller can guarantee a satisfactory dynamic performance for the morphing aircraft during the whole wing shape transition process. Finally, the flight control system’s robustness for the wing folding process is verified according to uncertainties of the aerodynamic parameters in the nonlinear model.     

A new non-linear vortex lattice method:Applications to wing aerodynamic optimizations

This paper presents a new non-linear formulation of the classical Vortex Lattice Method (VLM) approach for calculating the aerodynamic properties of lifting surfaces. The method accounts for the effects of viscosity, and due to its low computational cost, it represents a very good tool to perform rapid and accurate wing design and optimization procedures. The mathematical model is constructed by using two-dimensional viscous analyses of the wing span-wise sections, according to strip theory, and then coupling the strip viscous forces with the forces generated by the vortex rings distributed on the wing camber surface, calculated with a fully three-dimensional vortex lifting law. The numerical results obtained with the proposed method are validated with experimental data and show good agreement in predicting both the lift and pitching moment, as well as in predicting the wing drag. The method is applied to modifying the wing of an Unmanned Aerial System to increase its aerodynamic efficiency and to calculate the drag reductions obtained by an upper surface morphing technique for an adaptable regional aircraft wing.     

Dynamic characteristics analysis and flight control design for oblique wing aircraft

The movement characteristics and control response of oblique wing aircraft (OWA) are highly coupled between the longitudinal and lateral-directional axes and present obvious nonlinear-ity. Only with the implementation of flight control systems can flying qualities be satisfied. This arti-cle investigates the dynamic modeling of an OWA and analyzes its dynamic characteristics. Furthermore, a flight control law based on model-reference dynamic inversion is designed and ver-ified. Calculations and simulations show that OWA can be trimmed by rolling a bank angle and deflecting the triaxial control surfaces in a coordinated way. The oblique wing greatly affects lon-gitudinal motion. The short-period mode is highly coupled between longitudinal and lateral motion, and the bank angle also occurs in phugoid mode. However, the effects of an oblique wing on lateral mode shape are relatively small. For inherent control characteristics, symmetric deflection of the horizontal tail will generate not only longitudinal motion but also a large rolling rate. Rolling moment and pitching moment caused by aileron deflection will reinforce motion coupling, but rud-der deflection has relatively little effect on longitudinal motion. Closed-loop simulations demon-strate that the flight control law can achieve decoupling control for OWA and guarantee a satisfactory dynamic performance.     

Experimental validation of a new morphing trailing edge system using Price – Païdoussis wind tunnel tests

This paper presents the design and manufacturing of a new morphing wing system carried out at the Laboratory of Applied Research in Active Controls, Avionics and AeroServoElasticity(LARCASE) at the ETS in Montréal. This first version of a morphing wing allows the deformation of its trailing edge, denote by Morphing Trailing Edge(MTE). In order to characterize the technical impact of this deformation, we compare its performance with that of a rigid aileron by testing in the LARCASE's price-Pa?doussis subsonic wind tunnel. The first set of results shows that it is possible to replace an aileron by a MTE on a wing, as an improvement was observed for the MTE aerodynamic performances with respect to the aileron aerodynamic performances.The improvement consisted in the fact that the drag coefficient was smaller, and the lift-to-drag ratio was higher for the same lift coefficient.     

Recent progress in flapping wing aerodynamics and aeroelasticity

Micro air vehicles (MAVs) have the potential to revolutionize our sensing and information gathering capabilities in areas such as environmental monitoring and homeland security. Flapping wings with suitable wing kinematics, wing shapes, and flexible structures can enhance lift as well as thrust by exploiting large-scale vortical flow structures under various conditions. However, the scaling invariance of both fluid dynamics and structural dynamics as the size changes is fundamentally difficult. The focus of this review is to assess the recent progress in flapping wing aerodynamics and aeroelasticity. It is realized that a variation of the Reynolds number (wing sizing, flapping frequency, etc.) leads to a change in the leading edge vortex (LEV) and spanwise flow structures, which impacts the aerodynamic force generation. While in classical stationary wing theory, the tip vortices (TiVs) are seen as wasted energy, in flapping flight, they can interact with the LEV to enhance lift without increasing the power requirements. Surrogate modeling techniques can assess the aerodynamic outcomes between two- and three-dimensional wing. The combined effect of the TiVs, the LEV, and jet can improve the aerodynamics of a flapping wing. Regarding aeroelasticity, chordwise flexibility in the forward flight can substantially adjust the projected area normal to the flight trajectory via shape deformation, hence redistributing thrust and lift. Spanwise flexibility in the forward flight creates shape deformation from the wing root to the wing tip resulting in varied phase shift and effective angle of attack distribution along the wing span. Numerous open issues in flapping wing aerodynamics are highlighted.     

Lift performance enhancement for flapping airfoils by considering surging motion

The flapping motion has a great impact on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings. In this paper, a surging motion is added to an airfoil performing pitching-plunging combined motion to figure out how it influences the lift performance and flow pattern of flapping airfoils. Firstly, the numerical methods are validated by a NACA0012 airfoil pitching case and a NACA0012 airfoil plunging case. Then, the E377m airfoil which has typical geometric characteristics of the bird-like airfoil is selected as the calculation model to study how phase differences φ₁ between surging motion and plunging motion affect the aerodynamic performance of flapping airfoils. The results show that the airfoil with surging motion has comprehensively better lift performance and thrust performance than the airfoil without surging motion when 15°< φ₁ < 90°. It is demonstrated that surging motion has a powerful ability to improve the aerodynamic performance of flapping airfoil by adjusting φ₁. Finally, to further explore how flapping airfoil improves lift performance by considering surging motion, the flapping motions of E377m airfoil with the highest lift coefficient and lift efficiency are obtained through trajectory optimization. The surging motion is removed in the highest lift case and highest lift efficiency case respectively, and the mechanism that surging motion adjusts the aerodynamic force is analyzed in detail by comparing the vortex structure and kinematic parameters. The results of this paper help reveal the aerodynamic mechanism of bird flight and guide the design of Flapping wing Micro Air Vehicles (FMAV).     

Aerodynamic performance of owl-like airfoil undergoing bio-inspired flapping kinematics

Natural flyers have extraordinary flight skills and their prominent aerodynamic performance has attracted a lot of attention. However, the aerodynamic mechanism of birds' flapping wing kinematics still lacks in-depth understanding. In this paper, the aerodynamic performance of owl-like airfoil undergoing bio-inspired flapping kinematics extracted from a free-flying owl wing has been numerically investigated. The overset mesh technique is used to deal with the large range movements of flapping airfoils. The bio-inspired kinematics consist of plunging and pitching movement. A pure sinusoidal motion and a defined motion composed of plunging of sinusoidal motion and pitching of the bio-inspired kinematics are selected for comparison. The other two NACA airfoils are also selected to figure out the advantages of the owl-like airfoil. It is found that the cambered owl-like airfoil can enhance lift during the downstroke. The bio-inspired kinematics have an obvious advantage in lift generation with a presence of higher peak lift and positive lift over a wider proportion of the flapping cycle. Meanwhile, the bio-inspired motion is more economical for a lower power consumption compared with the sinusoidal motion. The sinusoidal flapping motion is better for thrust generation for a higher peak thrust value in both upstroke and downstroke, while the bio-inspired kinematics mainly generate thrust during the downstroke but produce more drag during the upstroke. The defined motion has similar lift performance with the bio-inspired kinematics, while it consumes more energy and generates less thrust. The unsteady flow field around airfoils is also analyzed to explain the corresponding phenomenon. The research in this paper is helpful to understand the flight mechanism of birds and to design a micro air vehicle with higher performance.     

多段柔性变体扑翼飞行器设计

多段柔性变体扑翼模仿海鸥翅膀的复杂运动.观察海鸥翅膀的运动周期,设计了包含慢频率扑动、展向折弯、弦向扭转和结构柔性变形的扑翼模型,并应用准定常方法计算气动力,为该扑翼飞行器设计提供依据.在CATIA和3DMAX中设计多段柔性变体扑翼机的三维模型和运动模拟,制作样机进行飞行试验,研究其平飞、爬升、偏航等飞行姿态,结果表明升力和推力与数值计算结果吻合.相较于原有扑翼飞行器,多段柔性变体扑翼飞行器可以慢频率扑动飞行,调整扑翼形状.      

A review of bird-like flapping wing with high aspect ratio

Bird-like flapping-wing vehicles with a high aspect ratio have the potential to fulfill missions given to micro air vehicles, such as high-altitude reconnaissance, surveillance, rescue, and bird group guidance, due to their good loading and long endurance capacities. Biologists and aeronautical researchers have explored the mystery of avian flight and made efforts to reproduce flapping flight in bioinspired aircraft for decades. However, the cognitive depth from theory to practice is still very limited. The mechanism of generating sufficient lift and thrust during avian flight is still not fully understood. Moving wings with unique biological structures such as feathers make modeling, simulation, experimentation, and analysis much more difficult. This paper reviews the research progress on bird-like flapping wings from flight mechanisms to modeling. Commonly used numerical computing methods are briefly compared. The aeroelastic problems are also highlighted. The results of the investigation show that a leading-edge vortex can be found during avian flight. Its induction and maintenance may have a close relationship with wing configuration, kinematics and deformation. The present models of flapping wings are mainly two-dimensional airfoils or three-dimensional single root-jointed geometric plates, which still exhibit large differences from real bird wings. Aeroelasticity is encouraged to consider the nonignorable effect on aerodynamic performance due to large-scale nonlinear deformation. Introducing appropriate flexibility can improve the peak values and efficiencies of lift and thrust, but the detailed conclusions always have strong background dependence.     

基于PD控制的仿昆虫扑翼样机研制

仿昆虫微型扑翼飞行器（FW-MAN）可以模仿昆虫悬停、垂直起飞以及侧飞等飞行姿态，从而适应复杂多障碍环境，具有广阔的应用前景。成功设计研制了一款重23.8 g，翼展18 cm，扑动幅值180°，扑动频率可达22 Hz的可垂直起飞的仿昆虫微型扑翼飞行器。采用曲柄摇杆与滑轮的组合机构作为样机扑动机构以解决原有样机扑动方案存在高摩擦及结构复杂等问题，样机翅翼设计为具有扭转角度的柔性翅翼从而使样机具有更高的气动效率。考虑到现有的姿态调节机制存在增加机构复杂度问题，基于翅翼扭转的姿态调节机制，设计了相应的控制调节机构，并搭建了样机气动力测量平台和姿态调节平台。气动升力与姿态力矩测量结果表明，样机翅翼可提供足够升力，姿态调节机制具有可行性。在此基础上，选取PD （Proportional Differential）控制律作为样机控制方式，为解决参数调定耗时及直接试飞样机不易观察控制效果问题，基于姿态调节平台获取了初始控制参数，然后对样机进行了多次试飞实验，并多次调定参数，最终实现了样机稳定垂直起飞。     

Unsteady aerodynamics and flow control for flapping wing flyers

The creation of micro air vehicles (MAVs) of the same general sizes and weight as natural fliers has spawned renewed interest in flapping wing flight. With a wingspan of approximately 15 cm and a flight speed of a few meters per second, MAVs experience the same low Reynolds number (10⁴–10⁵) flight conditions as their biological counterparts. In this flow regime, rigid fixed wings drop dramatically in aerodynamic performance while flexible flapping wings gain efficacy and are the preferred propulsion method for small natural fliers. Researchers have long realized that steady-state aerodynamics does not properly capture the physical phenomena or forces present in flapping flight at this scale. Hence, unsteady flow mechanisms must dominate this regime. Furthermore, due to the low flight speeds, any disturbance such as gusts or wind will dramatically change the aerodynamic conditions around the MAV. In response, a suitable feedback control system and actuation technology must be developed so that the wing can maintain its aerodynamic efficiency in this extremely dynamic situation; one where the unsteady separated flow field and wing structure are tightly coupled and interact nonlinearly. For instance, birds and bats control their flexible wings with muscle tissue to successfully deal with rapid changes in the flow environment. Drawing from their example, perhaps MAVs can use lightweight actuators in conjunction with adaptive feedback control to shape the wing and achieve active flow control. This article first reviews the scaling laws and unsteady flow regime constraining both biological and man-made fliers. Then a summary of vortex dominated unsteady aerodynamics follows. Next, aeroelastic coupling and its effect on lift and thrust are discussed. Afterwards, flow control strategies found in nature and devised by man to deal with separated flows are examined. Recent work is also presented in using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) actuators and angular speed variation to achieve active flow control for MAVs. Finally, an explanation for aerodynamic gains seen in flexible versus rigid membrane wings, derived from an unsteady three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model with an integrated distributed control algorithm, is presented.     

考虑弹性转轴的扑翼三维气动数值计算

通过求解雷诺平均Navier-Stokes方程,研究了同时具有扑动和俯仰运动的三维扑翼气动特性.为了模拟扑翼的弹性特性,在扑翼俯仰轴处设计了扭簧.研究了扑翼平面形状、俯仰弹性轴与质心的相对位置、俯仰刚度变化等参数的影响.结果表明:俯仰角相对扑动角有一个大的相位超前量,且刚度系数越大该超前量越大;考虑了俯仰弹性特征后,计...     

Flapping and flexible wings for biological and micro air vehicles

Micro air vehicles (MAVs) with wing spans of 15 cm or less, and flight speed of 30–60 kph are of interest for military and civilian applications. There are two prominent features of MAV flight: (i) low Reynolds number (10⁴–10⁵), resulting in unfavorable aerodynamic conditions to support controlled flight, and (ii) small physical dimensions, resulting in certain favorable scaling characteristics including structural strength, reduced stall speed, and low inertia. Based on observations of biological flight vehicles, it appears that wing motion and flexible airfoils are two key attributes for flight at low Reynolds number. The small size of MAVs corresponds in nature to small birds, which do not glide like large birds, but instead flap with considerable change of wing shape during a single flapping cycle. With flapping and flexible wings, birds overcome the deteriorating aerodynamic performance under steady flow conditions by employing unsteady mechanisms. In this article, we review both biological and aeronautical literatures to present salient features relevant to MAVs. We first summarize scaling laws of biological and micro air vehicles involving wing span, wing loading, vehicle mass, cruising speed, flapping frequency, and power. Next we discuss kinematics of flapping wings and aerodynamic models for analyzing lift, drag and power. Then we present issues related to low Reynolds number flows and airfoil shape selection. Recent work on flexible structures capable of adjusting the airfoil shape in response to freestream variations is also discussed.     

微型扑翼飞行器扑翼/尾翼气动干扰的数值研究

以二维刚性约束条件下的微型扑翼飞行器模型为研究对象,在动网格技术基础上,应用非定常数值分析手段对比分析了单翼/纵列翼布局的气动性能,深入研究了纵列翼缩减频率、扑翼—尾翼无量纲水平间距、来流攻角对其气动性能的影响.结果表明:①纵列翼尾翼对扑翼产生正效应干扰,相对于单翼布局,扑翼—尾翼无量纲水平间距为0.5倍翼型弦长时的纵列翼布局的推力系数和推进效率分别增加28.7%和5.7%;②缩减频率是影响推力的关键参数,随着缩减频率的增加,脱落涡的强度增加,推力系数增大.对于单翼、纵列翼两种布局模式,当缩减频率在1.0附近时推进效率达到最优;③对于纵列翼布局,在扑翼—尾翼无量纲水平间距为1.1倍翼型弦长时推进效率达到峰值;④在0°~20°来流攻角变化范围内,随着来流攻角的增加,升力系数增加,推力系数减小,当来流攻角大于9°时,两种布局的推力均为负值.