This paper presents an in-depth investigation into the instantaneous forces, flowfield, and wing deflections of a flapping wing used on a hover-capable robotic hummingbird. The goal was to understand the relationship between instantaneous lift and wing shape. An experimental rig was constructed, which flapped the wing at 20 Hz and measured instantaneous loads normal to the stroke plane. To separate inertial and aerodynamic loads, a novel approach was developed in which the wing spatial and temporal displacement was obtained using digital image correlation. From this, the instantaneous inertial force normal to the stroke plane was calculated based on mass distribution. The flowfield on the wing was resolved using particle image velocimetry, which revealed attached flow at steep angles of attack and several strong vortices. It was found that lift was sensitive to both unsteady aerodynamics and deflection. This study marks the first time that these quantities have been measured for a flapping wing used on a hover-capable vehicle, using a procedure developed for extracting pure aerodynamic force on a flexible structure. This effort has resulted in experimental data useful for validating high-fidelity flapping wing aeroelastic computational models.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Aeromechanics Analysis of a Hummingbird-Like Flapping Wing in Hover


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Journal of Aircraft ; 55 , 6 ; 2282-2297


    Publication date :

    2018-08-02


    Size :

    16 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    Correction: Aeromechanics Analysis of a Hummingbird-Like Flapping Wing in Hover

    Coleman, David / Gakhar, Kanika / Benedict, Moble et al. | AIAA | 2018


    HOVER-CAPABLE FLAPPING-WING AIRCRAFT

    BENEDICT MOBLE / COLEMAN DAVID | European Patent Office | 2019

    Free access

    Hover-Capable Flapping-Wing Aircraft

    BENEDICT MOBLE / COLEMAN DAVID A | European Patent Office | 2020

    Free access

    Hover-capable flapping-wing aircraft

    BENEDICT MOBLE / COLEMAN DAVID A | European Patent Office | 2022

    Free access

    Experimental optimization of wing lift for a hummingbird-like micro flapping-wing robot

    Ding, Lin / Wang, Fuguang / Yan, Jihong et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2022