In the present study, we have developed a smart flapping wing with a MFC (macro-fiber composites) actuator. To mimic the flying mechanisms of nature’s flyers such as birds or insects, the aerodynamic characteristics related to the birds and ornithopters are investigated. To measure the aerodynamic forces of flapping devices, a test stand consisting of two loadcells is manufactured, and the dyna...

Title of dissertation: DYNAMICS AND AEROELASTICITY OF HOVER CAPABLE FLAPPING WINGS: EXPERIMENTS AND ANALYSIS Beerinder Singh, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Inderjit Chopra Department of Aerospace Engineering This dissertation addresses the aerodynamics of insect-based, bio-inspired, flapping wings in hover. An experimental apparatus, with a bio-inspired flapping...

Flapping flight is more maneuverable than steady flight. It is debated whether this advantage is necessarily accompanied by a trade-off in the flight efficiency. Here we ask if any flapping motion exists that is aerodynamically more efficient than the optimal steady motion. We solve the Navier-Stokes equation governing the fluid dynamics around a 2D flapping wing, and determine the minimal aero...

The purpose of this research is to model and control a dragonflylike flapping wing micro aerial vehicle (FWMAV). It is well known that micro aerial vehicle (MAV) designs can be classified as fixed wing, rotary wing and flapping wing. Fixed wing MAV is capable of fast forward flight, which is suitable for flying outdoor. Rotary wing MAV is suitable for movement at low speed. Recently, flapping w...

Intraspecific variation in adult body mass can be particularly high in some insect species, mandating adjustment of the wing's structural properties to support the weight of the larger body mass in air. Insect wings elastically deform during flapping, dynamically changing the twist and camber of the relatively thin and flat aerofoil. We examined how wing deformations during free flight scale wi...

An experimental study was conducted to assess the acoustic performance of a two-winged Flapping-Wing Micro-Air-Vehicle (FW-MAV) with various wing materials and wing structure configurations for flapping flight applications. It was concluded that highly elastic materials could significantly reduce the flapping wing noise in a wide spectrum of audible frequencies. Furthermore, a dielectric elasto...

We present a new mechanism for passive wing morphing of flapping wings inspired by bat and bird wing morphology. The mechanism consists of an unactuated hand wing connected to the arm wing with a wrist joint. Flapping motion generates centrifugal accelerations in the hand wing, forcing it to unfold passively. Using a robotic model in hover, we made kinematic measurements of unfolding kinematics...

Avian flight has an outstanding performance than the manmade flapping wing MAVs. Considering that the feather is light and strong, a new type of the flapping wing was designed and made, whose skeleton is carbon fiber rods and covered by goose feathers as the skin. Its aerodynamics is tested by experiments and can be compared with conventional artificial flapping wings made of carbon fiber rods ...

This paper discusses a methodology of analyzing the flight dynamic stability of a flapping wing Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) in hover. The flexible flapping wings are modeled by a strain-based geometrically nonlinear beam formulation, coupled with an empirical aerodynamic formulation for load calculation on the wings surfaces. Wing flapping kinematics is described using a set of Euler angles. Nonlin...

Insects perform fast rotational manoeuvres during flight. While two insect orders use flapping halteres (specialized organs evolved from wings) to detect body dynamics, it is unknown how other insects detect rotational motions. Like halteres, insect wings experience gyroscopic forces when they are flapped and rotated and recent evidence suggests that wings might indeed mediate reflexes to body ...