Aerodynamics of flapping-wing Micro-Air-Vehicle: An integrated experimental and numerical study

The interest in Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) has stimulated continuous research activities, in view of their potential in civilian and military applications. An autonomous MAV with dedicated onboard sensors would be capable of executing mission in closed environments, such as surveillance, in door inspection in support of rescue operations and information gathering. Flapping wing MAV (also referred to as ’ornithopter’), which is the most intriguing type in the MAV family is often inspired from biological examples has triggered attention due to their outstanding manoeuvrability and flight capability at the low Reynolds number regime. Like natural flyers, flapping wing MAVs are usually equipped with a single or multiple pairs of flexible wings to generate both thrust and lift at the same time. Compared to the other locomotion, the flappingmotion benefits from a number of specific unsteady lift enhancement mechanisms. This thesis performs an integrated experimental and numerical study in order to explore the aerodynamic behaviour associated with flapping wing MAVs. The study is hereby divided into twofold: (1) Experimentally investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of flappingwingMAV, using state-of-the-artmeasurement techniques; (2) Develop a novel numerical methodology with particular focus in simulating flapping wing aerodynamics. For the experimental study, theDelFlyMicro was employed as the testbed in this thesis. The DelFly Micro uses an X-wing configuration which performs the clap-and-fling mechanisms three times during each flapping period and thus will result in complex flow behaviour. The aerodynamic characteristics were evaluated by means of extensive force production and power consumption measurements. The aero-structural effect of the DelFly Micro is fist investigated by means of a vacuum test, where the aerodynamically associated thrust component and different deformation patterns in air and in vacuum were addressed. Subsequently, the effect of wing prope
AWEP
Aerospace Engineering