Structural Dynamic Analysis of Bioinspired Carbon Fibre/Polyethylene MAV Wings

Abstract

Flapping wing micro air vehicles (FWMAVs) are small unmanned aircrafts or flying robots which are intended to be used for surveillance, reconnaissance, biochemical sensing, targeting, tracking, etc. To perform such missions, MAVs are required to do some specific operations such as hovering; slow and high speed flying; quick landing and take-off, etc. During flapping motion through surrounding air, wings experience inertial and aerodynamic forces. For making successful flights in such conditions, wings must have properties such as flexibility, strength, low weight, long fatigue life, etc. For producing such properties, wing material plays a crucial role. Most of the research related to MAVs is based on aerodynamics and controls. Present research is based on materials and structural aspects of flapping wings. Here materials used are carbon fibres for making wing skeleton and polyethylene for wing membrane. The design for the wing of 113.8 mm length is inspired from giant hummingbird's wing. The wing sketch was developed in gambit software by taking position data, generated using digitizer, from printed image of hummingbird wing. Developed sketch was printed and used, as a guide, for making the wing skeleton. The polyethylene film with adhesive was laminated on the skeleton at 150 ºC. Natural frequencies, nature of mode shapes, and damping characteristics of fabricated wings are determined here.