TY - GEN
T1 - Investigation of airfoil for an insect-sized flapping wing
AU - Nagai, Hiroto
AU - Isogai, Koji
AU - Uda, Nobuhide
AU - Ono, Kosei
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - We have conducted numerical study for a 3D flapping wing in hovering using computational fluid dynamics, considering airfoils of a bumblebee and a morphing airfoil by controlling a hinge angle connecting the fore- And hindwings. The aerodynamic effects of insect airfoils have been investigated in addition to the effect of the variable-cambered flapping airfoil. The corrugation of a bumblebee is little effective on aerodynamic characteristics of a flapping wing. Positive cambered airfoils are effective on the aerodynamic characteristics. However, the effect is canceled out in the up- And downstrokes. As a result, the airfoils of the bumblebee do not exceed the flat plate airfoil in time-averaged aerodynamic characteristics for a flapping cycle, if the airfoil is rigid. By controlling the hinge angle connecting the fore- And hindwings, preferable camber can be attained in both the up- And downstrokes. As a result, the hinge-controlled variable-camber airfoil shows about 14% increase in the time-averaged lift coefficient compared to the rigid flat airfoil.
AB - We have conducted numerical study for a 3D flapping wing in hovering using computational fluid dynamics, considering airfoils of a bumblebee and a morphing airfoil by controlling a hinge angle connecting the fore- And hindwings. The aerodynamic effects of insect airfoils have been investigated in addition to the effect of the variable-cambered flapping airfoil. The corrugation of a bumblebee is little effective on aerodynamic characteristics of a flapping wing. Positive cambered airfoils are effective on the aerodynamic characteristics. However, the effect is canceled out in the up- And downstrokes. As a result, the airfoils of the bumblebee do not exceed the flat plate airfoil in time-averaged aerodynamic characteristics for a flapping cycle, if the airfoil is rigid. By controlling the hinge angle connecting the fore- And hindwings, preferable camber can be attained in both the up- And downstrokes. As a result, the hinge-controlled variable-camber airfoil shows about 14% increase in the time-averaged lift coefficient compared to the rigid flat airfoil.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84910637867
T3 - 29th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2014
BT - 29th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2014
PB - International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences
T2 - 29th Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, ICAS 2014
Y2 - 7 September 2014 through 12 September 2014
ER -