An integrated experimental and computational approach to analyze flexible flapping wings in hover

Abstract

Biological flyers exploit wing deformation during flapping flight. There is a substantial need to improve the understanding of the aeroelastic effects associated with the wing deformation to build flapping wing micro air vehicles. This paper presents an effort to develop an integrated approach involving both experimental and computational methods to realize this goal. As the first step, an isotropic flat plate aluminum wing is manufactured and actuated to perform a single degree-of-freedom flapping motion. The wing deformation and airflow around the wing are measured with digital image correlation (DIC) and particle image velocimetry (PIV), respectively. Computational analyses are performed on this wing configuration using a combined nonlinear structural dynamics and Navier-Stokes solution. Reasonable agreement obtained between experimental and computational data in this preliminary effort shows a potential to analyze more complicated flexible flapping wings in future. ©2010 Society for Experimental Mechanics Inc.