scholarly journals Flexible-wing-based micro air vehicles

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Ifju ◽  
D. Jenkins ◽  
S. Ettinger ◽  
Y. Lian ◽  
W. Shyy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
Air Vehicles

Numerical Simulation of Micro Air Vehicles With Membrane Wings

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqin Zhang ◽  
Ling Tian
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Pressure Distribution ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Flexible Wings ◽  
Design Modification ◽  
Structure Deformation ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
Fluid Field ◽  
Distributed Pressure ◽  
Air Vehicles

Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) have advantages of small size, low cost, flexibility and controllability etc., so they will be applied widely in military and civilian fields. They have obviously low Reynolds number aerodynamics, which is different from traditional aircrafts. In this paper, numerical simulation based on fluid-structure interaction for flexible wing MAVs is presented. Flexible wings are composed of carbon frames and covered with membrane skins. Because flexible wing MAVs easily deform in airflow, both structure model and fluid model should be built. The two models are connected by interfaces of membrane wings, which transmit distributed pressure and deformations of membrane wings. When membrane wings are located in airflow, they will deform with actions of surrounding airflow. Deformation of membrane wings also affects airflow and pressure distributed on the wings’ surfaces will also be changed relatively, which will compel the shape of membrane wings to be changed once more. Therefore, numerical simulation of flexible wing MAVs is not only the analysis of fluid field, but also the structure deformation effects. Navier-Stokes Equations are nonlinear and complicated, so direct interaction of fluid and structure equations is rather difficult and costs too much time. Indirect interaction method is more feasible and it is adopted in this paper. Structure deformation and distributed pressure on membrane wings surfaces are calculated separately, and then pressure distribution from fluid solver is transmitted to structure solver. After structure deformation is calculated in structure solver, it will be transmitted to fluid field again. Iteration goes on in this way and finally converges. Simulation results show the deformation, stress and pressure distribution of flexible wings. All these results are good reference for MAVs design, modification and wind tunnel experiments generally.

1D16 Flexible wing design in flapping micro air vehicles

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013.25 (0) ◽  
pp. 141-142
Author(s):  
Haruka SUZUKI ◽  
Toshiyuki NAKATA ◽  
Hiroto TANAKA ◽  
Hao LIU
Keyword(s):  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Wing Design ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
Air Vehicles

Design of Flexible Wing with Embedded Piezoelectric Actuator

2013 ◽  
Vol 325-326 ◽  
pp. 951-955
Author(s):  
Yu Hua Zhou ◽  
Yu Tao Ju ◽  
Chang Sheng Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Dynamic Characteristic ◽  
Piezoelectric Actuator ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Previous Model ◽  
Ansys Software ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
The Mathematical Model ◽  
Air Vehicles

This paper introduces a new kind of flexible wing with embedded piezoelectric actuator as framework for Micro Air Vehicles (MAV), which was fixed spar in the previous flexible wing. This made it a controllable flexible wing because the new flexible wing can not only works as previous model without control, but also can change its wing profiles in our purpose by using the embedded piezoelectric actuator when its necessary. The mathematical model of the deformation of piezoelectric actuator under control has developed. with which the structure of the flexible wing was designed. The simulation of dynamic characteristic of the flexible wing with embedded piezoelectric actuator has been done with ANSYS software.

Membrane Wing-Based Micro Air Vehicles

2005 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Shyy ◽  
Peter Ifju ◽  
Dragos Viieru
Keyword(s):  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Low Reynolds Number ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Micro Air Vehicles ◽  
Flight Speed ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Flexible Wing ◽  
Membrane Wing ◽  
Low Reynolds ◽  
Air Vehicles

Micro air vehicles (MAVs) with a wingspan of 15cm or shorter, and flight speed around 10m∕s have attracted substantial interest in recent years. There are several prominent features of MAV flight: (i) low Reynolds number (104-105), resulting in degraded aerodynamic performance, (ii) small physical dimensions, resulting in certain favorable scaling characteristics including structural strength, reduced stall speed, and impact tolerance, and (iii) low flight speed, resulting in order one effect of the flight environment and intrinsically unsteady flight characteristics. Flexible wings utilizing membrane materials are employed by natural flyers such as bats and insects. Compared to a rigid wing, a membrane wing can better adapt to the stall and has the potential for morphing to achieve enhanced agility and storage consideration. We will discuss the aerodynamics of both rigid and membrane wings under the MAV flight condition. To understand membrane wing performance, the fluid and structure interaction is of critical importance. Flow structures associated with the low Reynolds number and low aspect ratio wing, such as pressure distribution, separation bubble, and tip vortex, as well as structural dynamics in response to the surrounding flow field are discussed. Based on the computational capabilities for treating moving boundary problems, an automated wing shape optimization technique is also developed. Salient features of the flexible-wing-based MAV, including the vehicle concept, flexible wing design, novel fabrication methods, aerodynamic assessment, and flight data analysis are highlighted.

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