Non-linear unsteady aerodynamic model for insect-like flapping wings in the hover. Part 1: Methodology and analysis
S A Ansari,Rafał Żbikowski,Kevin Knowles +2 more
- Vol. 220, Iss: 2, pp 61-83
TLDR
In this article, an analytical, aerodynamic modelling of insect-like flapping wings in the hover for micro-air vehicle applications is presented, where the main results are force and moment data for the flapping wing.Abstract:
The essence of this two-part paper is the analytical, aerodynamic modelling of insect- like flapping wings in the hover for microair vehicle applications. A key feature of such flapping- wing flows is their unsteadiness and the formation of a leading-edge vortex in addition to the conventional wake shed from the trailing edge. What ensues is a complex interaction between the shed wakes which, in part, determines the forces and moments on the wing. In an attempt to describe such a flow, two-novel coupled, non-linear, wake-integral equations are developed in this first part of the paper, and these form the foundation upon which the rest of the work stands. The circulation-based model thus developed is unsteady and inviscid in nature and essentially two-dimensional. It is converted to a 'quasi-three-dimensional' model using a blade-element-type method, but with radial chords. The main results from the model are force and moment data for the flapping wing and are derived as part of this article using the method of impulses. These forces and moments have been decomposed into constituent elements. The governing equations developed in the study are exact, but do not have a closed analytic form. Therefore, solutions are found by numerical methods. These are described in the second part of this paper.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Flapping Wing Aerodynamics: Progress and Challenges
TL;DR: In this article, a review of recent developments in the understanding and prediction of flapping-wing aerodynamics is presented, with a special emphasis on the dependence of thrust, lift, and propulsive efficiency on flapping mode, amplitude, frequency, and wing shape.
Journal ArticleDOI
Aerodynamic modelling of insect-like flapping flight for micro air vehicles
TL;DR: In this paper, the main approaches found in the literature, categorising them into steady-state, quasi-steady, semi-empirical and fully unsteady methods, are discussed.
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Fish Swimming and Bird/Insect Flight
TL;DR: In this article, a review of fish swimming and bird/insect flight is devoted to fish swimming, including variations in body width and thickness, with appended dorsal, ventral and caudal fins shedding vortices to closely simulate fish swimming.
Journal ArticleDOI
Discrete-vortex method with novel shedding criterion for unsteady aerofoil flows with intermittent leading-edge vortex shedding
TL;DR: In this article, a discrete-time, arbitrary-motion, unsteady thin aerofoil theory with discrete-vortex shedding from the leading edge governed by the instantaneous leading-edge suction parameter (LESP) was proposed.
Journal ArticleDOI
Lift and the leading-edge vortex
C. W. Pitt Ford,Holger Babinsky +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the lift on a wing featuring a leading-edge vortex by performing experiments on a translating flat-plate aerofoil that is accelerated from rest in a water towing tank at a fixed angle of attack of 15°.
References
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Leading-edge vortices in insect flight
Charles P. Ellington,Coen van den Berg,Coen van den Berg,Alexander P. Willmott,Adrian L. R. Thomas,Adrian L. R. Thomas +5 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors visualized the airflow around the wings of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta and a 'hovering' large mechanical model, and found an intense leading-edge vortex was found on the downstroke, of sufficient strength to explain the high-lift forces.