Membrane wing-based Micro air vehicles (MAV) with a maximum dimension of 15 cm and operating speeds around 10 m/s provide inexpensive and expendable platforms for surveillance and data collection in situations where larger vehicles are not practical. This Note presents a three-dimensional model for the interaction between a membrane wing and its surrounding viscous flow. The coupled fluid-structure algorithm consists of the fluid solver, the structural solver, and an interface technique. The fluid solver adopted for the three-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is a pressure-based method, utilizing a multiblock structured grid. The structural solver is a nonlinear dynamic membrane finite element model, utilizing an unstructured grid. The hyperelastic Mooney-Rivlin model is adopted for the membrane dynamics. Large strains are described by the Green-Lagrange strain tensor. The coupling between the fluid solver and structural solver is accomplished via a subiteration process. A thin plate spline interpolation is performed to exchange information between these solvers. Each membrane half-wing consists of a membrane and three carbon fiber battens, which sustain any bending moment and support the membrane. The results show that the time-averaged vertical displacement of the trailing edge is up to 15% of the maximal camber at alpha = 6 deg (alpha = angle of attack at the root). Except for the rigid portion of the wing, the membrane wing adapts to the flow environment to form lower angles of attack in comparison to a rigid wing. The incidence of a rigid wing increases from 6 deg at the root to 9.5 deg at the wing tip; the effective angle of attack toward the membrane wing tip is less by about 0.8 deg.
Membrane wing model for micro air vehicles
Aeroelastisches Modell für die Membrantragflächen eines unbemannten Miniaturflugzeugs
AIAA Journal ; 41 , 12 ; 2492-2494
2003
3 Seiten, 3 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 12 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
Membrane Wing Model for Micro Air Vehicles
AIAA | 2003
|Membrane wing-based micro air vehicles
Tema Archive | 2005
|Membrane wing aerodynamics for micro air vehicles
Online Contents | 2003
|Membrane wing aerodynamics for micro air vehicles
Elsevier | 2003
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