The main objective of this paper is to provide a rigorous coupling between body flight dynamics and flow dynamics (unsteady aerodynamics) in hovering of insects and flapping-wing micro air vehicles. A reduced-order unsteady aerodynamic model that takes into account the leading-edge vortex and rotational effects is integrated with a dynamic model to construct a flight dynamic model for flapping-wing micro air vehicles and insects near hover. Then, the averaging theorem is used to study the dynamic stability of such a nonlinear time-periodic system. Effects of unsteady aerodynamics on the trim/balance problem and stability of such an equilibrium are assessed. It is found that the flow dynamics induces asymmetric forward force and pitching moment, even though the flapping motion is symmetric. As such, balance of insects and flapping-wing micro air vehicles at hover cannot be achieved by purely symmetric flapping. Although unsteady aerodynamics considerably affects the balance/trim problem, its effect on stability is minor.
Coupled Unsteady Aero-Flight Dynamics of Hovering Insects/Flapping Micro Air Vehicles
Journal of Aircraft ; 54 , 5 ; 1738-1749
2017-05-05
12 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Coupled Unsteady Aero-Flight Dynamics of Hovering Insects/Flapping Micro Air Vehicles
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