Effect of surface blowing on aerodynamic characteristics of tubercled straight wing

Recent research proves that wings with leading-edge tubercles have the ability to perform efficiently in post-stall region over the conventional straight wing. Moreover, the conventional straight wing outperforms the tubercled wing at a pre-stall region which is quintessential. Even though tubercled wing offers great performance enhancement, because of the complexity of the flow, the trough region of the tubercled wing is more prone to flow separation. Henceforth, the present paper aims at surface blowing – an active flow control technique over the tubercled wing to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency by positively influencing its lift characteristics without causing any additional drag penalty. Flow parameters like blowing velocity ratios and the location of blowing were chosen to find the optimised configuration keeping the amplitude and frequency of the leading-edge tubercles constant as 0.12 c and 0.25 c respectively. Numerical investigations were carried out over the baseline tubercled wing and tubercled wing with surface blowing at various blowing jet velocity ratios 0.5, 1 and 2 over four different chordwise locations ranging from 0.3 c to 0.8 c.The results confirm that blowing at various x/c with different blowing velocity ratios performs better than the conventional tubercled wing. Comparatively, blowing velocity ratio 2 at 0.3 c shows peak performance of about 28% enhancement in the lift characteristics relative to the baseline model. Particularly, in the pre-stall region, 25–50% increase in aerodynamic efficiency is evident over the tubercled wing with surface blowing compared with the baseline case. Additionally,attempts were made to delineate the physical significance of the flow separation mechanism due to blowing by visualizing the streamline pattern.     

Effects of wing flexibility on aerodynamic performance of an aircraft model

The low-speed wind tunnel experiment is carried out on a simplified aircraft model to explore the influence of wing flexibility on the aircraft aerodynamic performance. The investigation involves the measurements of force, membrane deformation and velocity field at Reynolds number of 5.4 × 10⁴–1.1 × 10⁵. In the lift curves, two peaks are observed. The first peak, corresponding to the stall, is sensitive to the wing flexibility much more than the second peak, which nearly keeps constant. For the optimal case, in comparison with the rigid wing model, the delayed stall of nearly 5° is achieved, and the relative lift increment is about 90%. It is revealed that the lift enhanced region corresponds to the larger deformation and stronger vibration, which leads to stronger flow mixing near the flexible wing surface. Thereby, the leading-edge separation is suppressed, and the aerodynamic performance is improved significantly. Furthermore, the effects of sweep angle and Reynolds number on the aerodynamic characteristics of flexible wing are also presented.     

Delaying stall of morphing wing by periodic trailing-edge deflection

Morphing wings can improve aircraft performance during different flight phases. Recently research has focused on steady aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing with a flexible trailing-edge, and the unsteady aerodynamic and stall characteristics in the deflection process of the morphing wing are worthy further investigation. The effects of the angle of attack and deflection rate on aerodynamic characteristics were examined, and based on the aerodynamic characteristics of the morphing wing, a method was developed to delay stall by using the flexible periodic trailing-edge deflection. The numerical results show that the lift coefficients in the deflection process are smaller than those in the static situation at small angles of attack, and that the higher the deflection rate is, the smaller the lift coefficients will be. On the contrary, at large angles of attack, the lift coefficients are higher than those in the static case, and they become larger with the increase of the deflection rate. Further, the periodic deflection of the flexible trailing-edge with a small deflection amplitude and high deflection rate can increase lift coefficients at the critical stall angle.     

Effects of coarse riblets on air flow structures over a slender delta wing using particle image velocimetry

This research investigates the aerodynamic performance and flow characteristics of a delta wing with 65° sweep angle and with coarse axial riblets,and then compares with that of a smooth-surface delta wing.Particle Image Velocimetry(PIV)were utilized to visualize the flow over the wing at 6 cross-sections upright to the wing surface and parallel to the wing span,as well as 3 longitudinal sections on the leading edge,symmetry plane,and a plane between them at Angles of Attack(AOA)=20°and 30°and Re=1.2×10~5,2.4×10~5,and 3.6×10~5.The effects of the riblets were studied on the vortices diameter,vortex breakdown location,vortices distance from the wing surface,flow lines pattern nearby the wing,circulation distribution,and separation.The results show that the textured model has a positive effect on some of the parameters related to drag reduction and lift increase.The riblets increase the flow momentum near the wing’s upper surface except near the apex.They also increase the flow momentum behind the wing.     

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).     

翼梢帆片－机翼非定常气动力计算研究

本文应用偶极子网格法，数值研究矩形机翼与它三对翼梢帆片的干扰非定常气动力。数值结果表明，由于帆片的干扰效应，使翼梢区域剖面的升压系数分布发生畸变，在１／４弦长附近出现凹坑。干扰升压随振荡频率的增大而增大。在定常和低频振荡的范围内，帆片对机翼气动力的干扰贡献比帆片本身的贡献大，随着振荡频率的增大后者的贡献逐渐变得重要起来。     

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.     

Fixed membrane wings for micro air vehicles: Experimental characterization,numerical modeling,and tailoring

Fixed wing micro air vehicles (wingspan between 10 and 15 cm) are aerodynamically challenging due to the low Reynolds number regime (10⁴–10⁵) they operate in. The low aspect ratio wings (typically used to maximize area under a size constraint) promote strong tip vortices, and are susceptible to rolling instabilities. Wind gusts can be of the same order of magnitude as the flight speed (10–15 m/s). Standard control surfaces on an empennage must be eliminated for size considerations and drag reduction, and the range of stable center of gravity locations is only a few millimeters long. Membrane aeroelasticity has been identified as a tenable method to alleviate these issues: flexible wing structures with geometric twist (adaptive washout for gust rejection, delayed stall) and aerodynamic twist (adaptive inflation for high lift, larger stability margins) are both considered here. Recent investigations in static aeroelastic characterization, including flight loads, wing deformation, flow structures, aeroelastic-tailoring studies through laminate orientation, as well as unconventional techniques based on membrane pre-tension, are reviewed. Multi-objective optimization aimed at improving lift, drag, and pitching moment considerations is also discussed.     

利用气动弹性的柔性振翼模型建立及分析(英文)

Making use of modal characteristics of the natural vibration of flexible structure to design the oscillating wing aircraft is proposed. A series of equations concerning the oscillating wing of flexible structures are derived. The kinetic equation for aerodynamic force coupled with elastic movement is set up, and relevant formulae are derived. The unsteady aerodynamic one in that formulae is revised. The design principle, design process and range of application of such oscillating wing analytical method are elaborated. A flexible structural oscillating wing model is set up, and relevant time response analysis and frequency response analysis are conducted. The analytical results indicate that adopting the new-type driving way for the oscillating wing will not have flutter problems and will be able to produce propulsive force. Furthermore, it will consume much less power than the fixed wing for generating the same lift.     

Experimental investigation and correlation development of jet impingement heat transfer with two rows of aligned jet holes on an internal surface of a wing leading edge

Extensive experimental studies on the heat transfer characteristics of two rows of aligned jet holes impinging on a concave surface in a wing leading edge were conducted, where50000 Rej 90000, 1.74 H/d 27.5, 66° a 90°, and 13.2 r/d 42.03. The finding was that the heat transfer performance at the jet-impingement stagnation point with two rows of aligned jet holes was the same as that with a single row of jet holes or the middle row of three-row configurations when the circumferential angle of the two jet holes was larger than 30°. The attenuation coefficient distribution of the jet impingement heat transfer in the chordwise direction was so complicated that two zones were divided for a better analysis. It indicated that: the attenuation coefficient curve in the jet impingement zone exhibited an approximate upside-down bell shape with double peaks and a single valley; the attenuation coefficient curve in the non-jet impingement zone was like a half-bell shape, which was similar to that with three rows of aligned jet holes; the factors,including Rej, H/d and r/d, affected the attenuation coefficient value at the valley significantly.When r/d was increased from 30.75 to 42.03, the attenuation rates of attenuation coefficient increased only by 1.8%. Consequently, experimental data-based correlation equations of the Nusselt number for the heat transfer at the jet-impingement stagnation point and the distributionof the attenuation coefficient in the chordwise direction were acquired, which play an important role in designing the wing leading edge anti-icing system with two rows of aligned jet holes.     

A compliant polymorphing wing for small UAVs

This paper presents the development of a novel compliant polymorphing wing capable of chord and camber morphing for small UAVs. The morphing wing can achieve up to 10% chord extension and ±20° camber changes. The design, modeling, sizing, manufacturing and mechanical testing of the wing are detailed. The polymorphing wing consists of one continuous front spar fixed to the fuselage and a rear spar on each side of the wing. Each rear spar can translate in the chordwise direction (chord morphing) and rotate around itself (camber morphing). A flexible elastomeric latex sheet is used as the skin to cover the wing and maintain its aerodynamic shape whilst allowing morphing. The loads from the skin are transferred to the spars using the compliant cellular ribs that support the flexible skin and facilitate morphing. Pre-tensioning is applied to the skin to minimize wrinkling when subject to aerodynamic and actuation loads. A rack and pinion actuation system, powered by stepper motors, is used for morphing. Aero-structural design, analysis and sizing are conducted. Performance comparison between the polymorphing wing and the baseline wing (non-morphing) shows that chord morphing improves aerodynamic efficiency at low angles of attack while camber morphing improves efficiency at high angles of attack.     

民用飞机ADHF构型升阻特性研究

采用计算流体力学方法,针对伴随扰流板下偏铰链襟翼典型二维多段翼进行数值模拟,研究了扰流板下偏对小襟翼起飞构型多段翼气动升阻特性的影响。结果表明:在所研究范围内,1)固定扰流板偏度及缝道,增大襟翼偏度,可明显提升多段翼升力,并增加1.13V_SR-1.25V_SR升力范围内的阻力;2)固定襟翼位置,增加扰流板偏度,可产生机翼弯度增大与缝隙量减小两个效果;3)机翼弯度增大,可提升多段翼小迎角下的升力,但最大升力影响有限,弯度增加效应可明显降低1.13V_SR ~1.25V_SR升力范围内的阻力;4)在0.3%c~1.3%c范围内,减小缝隙量,各迎角下升力均随之下降,但减小缝隙量也可明显降低1.13V_SR~1.25V_SR升力范围内的阻力;5)固定襟翼,随着扰流板下偏,升力在小迎角下有所提升,进失速段呈现下降现象,而阻力在1.13V_SR~1.25V_SR升力范围内可明显降低。     

Aerodynamic performance enhancement for flapping airfoils by co-flow jet

Introducing active flow control into the design of flapping wing is an effective way to enhance its aerodynamic performance. In this paper, a novel active flow control technology called Co-Flow Jet (CFJ) is applied to flapping airfoils. The effect of CFJ on aerodynamic performance of flapping airfoils at low Reynolds number is numerically investigated using Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) simulation with Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model. Numerical methods are validated by a NACA6415-based CFJ airfoil case and a S809 pitching airfoil case. Then NACA6415 baseline airfoil and NACA6415-based CFJ airfoil with jet-off and jet-on are simulated in flapping motion, with Reynolds number 70,000 and reduced frequency 0.2. As a result, CFJ airfoils with jet-on generally have better lift and thrust characteristics than baseline airfoils and jet-off airfoil when C_μ is greater than 0.04, which results from the CFJ effect of reducing flow separation by injecting high-energy fluid into boundary layer. Besides, typical kinematic and geometric parameters, including the reduced frequency and the positions of the suction and injection slot, are systematically studied to figure out their influence on aerodynamic performance of the CFJ airfoil. And a variable C_μ jet control strategy is proposed to further improve effective propulsive efficiency. Compared with using constant C_μ, an increase of effective propulsive efficiency by 22.6% has been achieved by using prescribed variable C_μ for NACA6415-based CFJ airfoil at frequency 0.2. This study may provide some guidance to performance enhancement for Flapping wing Micro Air Vehicles (FMAV).     

Effect of flexibility on unsteady aerodynamics forces of a purely plunging airfoil

Introducing flexibility into the design of a vertically flapping wing is an effective way to enhance its aerodynamic performance. As less previous studies on the aerodynamics of vertically flapping flexible wings focused on the lift generated in a wide range of angle of attack·a 2D numerical simulation of a purely plunging flexible airfoil is employed using a loose fluid–structure interaction method. The aerodynamics of a fully flexible airfoil are firstly studied with the flexibility and angle of attack. To verify whether an airfoil could get aerodynamic benefit from the change in structure, partially flexible airfoil with rigid leading edge and flexible trailing edge were further considered. Results show that flexibility could always reduce airfoil drag while lift and lift efficiency both peak at moderate flexibility. When freestream velocity is constant, lift is maximized at a high angle of attack about 40° while this optimal angle of attack reduces to 15° in drag-balanced status. The airfoil drag reduction, lift augmentation as well as efficiency enhancement mainly attribute to the passive pitching other than the camber deformation. Partially deformed airfoil with the longest length of moderate flexible trailing edge can achieve the highest lift. This study may provide some guidance in the wing design of Micro Air Vehicle (MAV).     

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.     

多段翼混合边界层改变对流场的影响研究

前缘缝翼尾流与主翼边界层混合的改变对主翼气动力具有重要影响.利用数值模拟手段,通过在前缘缝翼尾缘添加一定动量系数的喷流,改变前缘缝翼尾缘的尾流,进而改变尾流与主翼边界层的混合状况.求解二维多段翼模型30P30N在各个不同喷流条件下的二维非定常流场,结果表明:提高前缘缝翼尾缘喷流的动量系数,将使前缘缝翼尾流和主翼边界层混合开始点后移,提高主翼上表面负压峰值和主翼升力;混合开始点对主翼的负压峰值及升力均有一定的影响;增大来流攻角会抑制前缘缝翼尾流和主翼边界层的混合.     

Gurney襟翼对双三角翼气动特性影响的低速风洞实验研究

通过低速风洞实验研究了Gurney襟翼对双三角翼气动特性的影响,结果表明Gurney襟翼可以提高双三角翼的升力系数、最大升力系数以及中高升力系数情况下的升阻比。此外,进一步证实了Gurney襟翼的有效迎风面积是影响增升效果的主要因素。     

仿鸟柔性扑翼气动特性与能耗的数值研究

建立了适当的三维仿鸟柔性扑翼模型,并以配平重力和平衡阻力为条件,数值计算了它的低雷诺数非定常流场.研究揭示了翼面初始扭转角度、动态俯仰幅度等重要设计参数与飞行性能的关系,表明扑翼平面的初始扭转程度、扑翼柔性材料的选择以及两者之间的合理搭配对扑翼机的成功飞行至关重要.研究分析了仿鸟扑翼的流场涡结构、升力推力产生原理,下扑过程附着上翼面的前缘涡是升力产生的重要机制.对扑翼气动功率的比较分析也发现,人造扑翼机需要的气动功率明显高出同等大小的鸟类,在效率方面尚不及扑翼飞行生物.     

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.     

基于非定常面元/黏性涡粒子法的低雷诺数滑流气动干扰

针对太阳能无人机螺旋桨滑流与机翼的气动干扰,考虑了低雷诺数流动下气体黏性和压缩性影响,并根据黎曼边界条件和涡量等效原则建立了能够快速计算分析螺旋桨-机翼气动干扰的非定常面元/黏性涡粒子的混合方法。首先使用有试验数据的风洞模型以及数值模拟技术对混合方法进行验证,在此基础上研究了不同安装位置与工况下螺旋桨与机翼的气动干扰。结果表明:螺旋桨对轴向气流的加速以及滑流诱导的上洗和下洗效应使机翼气动力呈现出增升增阻的现象,机翼升阻比有所下降。较大的弦向间距以及较高的垂直安装位置在减缓机翼升阻比下降的同时也使得螺旋桨拉力有所减小。对于多个螺旋桨的气动干扰,不同的桨叶旋转方向导致机翼气动力不同的变化规律,当旋转方向与机翼翼尖涡反向时,螺旋桨滑流能够抑制翼尖涡的强度,提高机翼气动效率。