This paper summarizes the complex unsteady, 3-D viscous flow aerodynamics (dominantly laminar) developed in flapping wing generating vortices and intersecting with them. Different flying creatures, (Insects, Birds, and Bats) flapping wing mechanisms are studied and hence being compared based on their wing kinematics and aerodynamic efficiency. The performance of low Reynolds number flyers is highly influenced by the wing shape, wing size, wing camber, aspect ratio, % camber thickness, elastic deformation, wing-beat frequency and wing twisting. The Computation technique used to analyze the wake characteristics of a flapping motion shows that the generation and shedding of vortices dominate the aerodynamic loading on the wing. The periodicity of the wing motion and the resultant vortices leads to conclude that any quantitative model must be based on unsteady aerodynamics and vortex dynamics.The preliminary assessment of the plan form and the airfoils are performed using Modified Blade Element Theory. Classical blade element theory has been successfully developed for analyzing insect wing aerodynamics, at least for the steady flow contribution. This eliminates small angle assumption and allows accurate calculation of vortex displacement velocity. The focus has been given on the study of sensitivity of the flow to the variation owing kinematics, change in wing plan form shape, airfoil shape and their distribution along the wingspan. Time-accurate Navier-Stokes solvers are employed for the preceding analysis. Even though the flow discovered in natural flyers is mainly laminar, for design perspective it is prudent to include turbulence modeling.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Computational Analysis of 3D Unsteady Flow Over Flapping Wing


    Additional title:

    Sae Technical Papers


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    SAE 2013 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition ; 2013



    Publication date :

    2013-09-17




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Computational Analysis of 3D Unsteady Flow Over Flapping Wing

    Sharma, S. / Bindal, G. / Society of Automotive Engineers | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2013


    Unsteady aerodynamics and flow control for flapping wing flyers

    Ho, Steven / Nassef, Hany / Pornsinsirirak, Nick et al. | Elsevier | 2003



    Computational Three-Dimensional Flapping-Wing Analysis

    Buchmann, Nadine / Radespiel, Rolf | AIAA | 2013


    An unsteady two-dimensional vortex method for the flow separation over a flapping wing

    Wu, Yue / Xie, Changchuan / Yang, Chao | SAGE Publications | 2023