AERODYNAMIC MODELING OF ELLIPTICAL WING ORNITHOPTER USING QUASI STEADY APPROACH.PDF

Abstract

Research in the field of Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FMAV) is an ongoing quest to master the natural flyers by mechanical means. The field is characterized by unsteady aerodynamics, whose knowledge is still developing. FMAV based on avian flight is called ‘Ornithopter’ and that based on insect flight is known as ‘Entomopter’. This research is restricted to Ornithopters only. The kinematics of real birds are difficult to be mimicked because of extreme complexities involved and weight limitation of an ornithopter. Most of the successful ornithopters are designed only with flapping mechanism having flexible membrane elliptical wings. Flapping frequency, flapping amplitude, incidence angle, flexibility of wings and their geometry are the important design parameters for an ornithopter. This research has been organized in four parts: (a) Formulation of Aerodynamic Model, (b) Parametric Study of the model, (c) Limited Experimentation of FMAV after manufacturing the FMAV wings and associated gear mechanism and (d) Comparison/Analysis of the results. For experimentation a Whirl Arm Test Stand has also been designed and developed in the course of this research. The theoretical results are generally in conformity with the experimental results and therefore the suggested aerodynamic model can be used for further study and final development of flyable Ornithopter