Progress of Chinese“Dove”and Future Studies on Flight Mechanism of Birds and Application System

This paper introduces the Chinese"Dove"——A practical application system of bird-mimetic air vehicles developed for more than a decade by the Institute of Flight Vehicle Innovation of Northwest Polytechnic University(NWPU)in China.Firstly,the main components,flight capability and flight verification of the Chinese"Dove"are presented.Then,the methods for the aerodynamic simulation and wind tunnel experiments are put forward.Secondly,the design of high-lift and high-thrust flexible flapping wings,a series of flapping mechanisms,gust-resistance layout and micro flight control/navigation system are presented.Some future studies on the application system of bionic micro air vehicles are given,including observation of natural flight creatures,aerodynamics in flight,mechanical and new material driving systems,structural mechanics,flight mechanics,and the information perception and intelligent decision-making control,which are related to research of flight bioinformatic perception and brain science.Finally,some application examples of complex flapping movements,active/passive deformation of bird wings,new low-energy motion-driven system,bionic intelligent decision-making and control/navigation are discussed.

Lift system optimization for hover-capable flapping wing micro air vehicle

A key challenge is using bionic mechanisms to enhance aerodynamic performance of hover-capable flapping wing micro air vehicle(FWMAV).This paper presented a new lift system with high lift and aerodynamic efficiency,which use a hummingbird as a bionic object.This new lift system is able to effectively utilize the high lift mechanism of hummingbirds,and this study innovatively utilizes elastic energy storage elements and installs them at the wing root to help improve aerodynamic performance.A flapping angle of 154°is achieved through the optimization of the flapping mechanism parameters.An optimized wing shape and parameters are obtained through experimental studies on the wings.Consequently,the max net lift generated is 17.6%of the flapping wing vehicle’s weight.Moreover,energy is stored and released periodically during the flapping cycle,by imitating the musculoskeletal system at the wing roots of hummingbirds,thereby improving the energy utilization rate of the FWMAV and reducing power consumption by 4.5%under the same lift.Moreover,strength verification and modal analyses are conducted on the flapping mechanism,and the weight of the flapping mechanism is reduced through the analysis and testing of different materials.The results show that the lift system can generate a stable lift of 31.98 g with a wingspan of 175 mm,while the lift system weighs only 10.5 g,providing aerodynamic conditions suitable for high maneuverability flight of FWMAVs.

An experimental study of elastic properties of dragonfly-like flapping wings for use in biomimetic micro air vehicles(BMAVs)

This article studies the elastic properties of several biomimetic micro air vehicle（BMAV）wings that are based on a dragonfly wing.BMAVs are a new class of unmanned micro-sized air vehicles that mimic the flapping wing motion of flying biological organisms（e.g.,insects,birds,and bats）.Three structurally identical wings were fabricated using different materials：acrylonitrile butadiene styrene（ABS）,polylactic acid（PLA）,and acrylic.Simplified wing frame structures were fabricated from these materials and then a nanocomposite film was adhered to them which mimics the membrane of an actual dragonfly.These wings were then attached to an electromagnetic actuator and passively flapped at frequencies of 10-250 Hz.A three-dimensional high frame rate imaging system was used to capture the flapping motions of these wings at a resolution of 320 pixels x 240 pixels and 35000 frames per second.The maximum bending angle,maximum wing tip deflection,maximum wing tip twist angle,and wing tip twist speed of each wing were measured and compared to each other and the actual dragonfly wing.The results show that the ABS wing has considerable flexibility in the chordwise direction,whereas the PLA and acrylic wings show better conformity to an actual dragonfly wing in the spanwise direction.Past studies have shown that the aerodynamic performance of a BMAV flapping wing is enhanced if its chordwise flexibility is increased and its spanwise flexibility is reduced.Therefore,the ABS wing（fabricated using a 3D printer） shows the most promising results for future applications.

Aerodynamic optimization and mechanism design of flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap

Trailing-edge flap is traditionally used to improve the takeoff and landing aerodynamic performance of aircraft.In order to improve flight efficiency during takeoff,cruise and landing states,the flexible variable camber trailing-edge flap is introduced,capable of changing its shape smoothly from 50% flap chord to the rear of the flap.Using a numerical simulation method for the case of the GA（W）-2 airfoil,the multi-objective optimization of the overlap,gap,deflection angle,and bending angle of the flap under takeoff and landing configurations is studied.The optimization results show that under takeoff configuration,the variable camber trailing-edge flap can increase lift coefficient by about 8% and lift-to-drag ratio by about 7% compared with the traditional flap at a takeoff angle of 8°.Under landing configuration,the flap can improve the lift coefficient at a stall angle of attack about 1.3%.Under cruise state,the flap helps to improve the lift-todrag ratio over a wide range of lift coefficients,and the maximum increment is about 30%.Finally,a corrugated structure–eccentric beam combination bending mechanism is introduced in this paper to bend the flap by rotating the eccentric beam.

Co-simulation and Experimental Study for Wingspan of Flapping Wing Micro Aerial Vehicle

The 3D model of flapping wing mechanism and veins is constructed in 3D computer aided design (CAD) software UG.Then the co-simulation model is established by using multibody dynamics software ADAMS and MATLAB.The validation of this co-simulation model is verified by comparing the simulation results with final experiments.The simulation results and experiments reveal that the relation between flapping frequency and driving voltage of motor is approximately linear under various wingspans.The variance of flapping frequency among different wingspans augments gradually with increasing voltage.Furthermore,the simulation results suggest that flapping frequency is sensitive to wingspan and decreases with increasing wingspan of veins,and the relation between flapping frequency and moment of inertia of veins is also approximately linear for various voltages.

Flap side-edge noise mechanism and shape modification noise reduction design

Flap side-edge noise is a significant noise source for airplane at takeoff and landing stages. The generation mechanism of flap side-edge noise is analyzed by numerical simulation on unsteady flow field using Very Large Eddy Simulation （VLES）. Two kinds of flap side-edge shape modifications are proposed, and their frequency spectrum and directivity of far-field noise are compared with the baseline configuration using permeable integral surface Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings （FW-H） acoustic analogy method to investigate their effects on noise reduction. Via the numerical simulation of flow field and acoustic field, it proves that the flap side-edge noise is broadband noise in nature. The different shapes of flap side-edge change the pattern of flow field, vortex structures and the development of vortex, thus having influences on noise source distributions and characteristics of far-field noise. The result shows that at the given 5° angle of attack, the proposed flap side-edge shape modifications can reduce the overall sound pressure level （OASPL） by 1 to 2 dB without decreasing the lift and drag aerodynamic performances.