Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion

The potential of flapping wing aerodynamics for application to micro-air vehicles has led to recent interest in the area of flapping wing propulsion especially in the low Reynolds flight regime. In this FYP report, the author investigated a two-dimensional computational model of a pure plunging flat...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tan, Rui Xia.
Other Authors: Jorg Uwe Schluter
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40633
_version_ 1811681665848705024
author Tan, Rui Xia.
author2 Jorg Uwe Schluter
author_facet Jorg Uwe Schluter
Tan, Rui Xia.
author_sort Tan, Rui Xia.
collection NTU
description The potential of flapping wing aerodynamics for application to micro-air vehicles has led to recent interest in the area of flapping wing propulsion especially in the low Reynolds flight regime. In this FYP report, the author investigated a two-dimensional computational model of a pure plunging flat plate and its corresponding force coefficients and vortex flows. The focus of this project is to analyse the relationship between drag coefficient and plunging frequency of a flat plate in Reynolds flow of 104. Firstly, the test case of a stationary cylinder in the same Reynolds number regime is set up. Velocity measurements at various wake distances (4d-7d behind centre of cylinder) were obtained (i) experimentally using hot wire anemometer in a water tunnel and (ii) computationally using Jetcode, based on the immersed boundary method. Drag coefficient is found to increase with increasing wake distance. The experimental and computational drag coefficients obtained were also compared with values found in literature and all were in good agreement, within 10% of each other. Secondly, the flat plate was set to plunge at 8 non-dimensionalised frequencies ranging from 0.129 to 0.275 at constant non-dimensionalised amplitude of 0.34. The results show a general increasing trend of thrust force produced by the flat plate with increasing plunging frequencies. Thrust is observed to be produced when the kh value exceeds 0.05 and even appears to exceed a plunging NACA0012 airfoil in Reynolds flow of 105 at 0.275 at kh=0.54. Flow visualisation of the direction of vortices at frequency 0.129 and 0.275 indicated drag and thrust respectively. Drag coefficients were found to be relatively constant at different wake distances. Lastly, additional simulations with finer grid and hot wire measurements of wake velocities of the plunging flat plate would help to shed more light into the difference in values of force coefficients computed from pressure forces acting directly on the cylinder and B.M. Jones‟ wake transverse method.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T03:44:34Z
format Final Year Project (FYP)
id ntu-10356/40633
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T03:44:34Z
publishDate 2010
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/406332023-03-04T19:00:49Z Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion Tan, Rui Xia. Jorg Uwe Schluter School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Aircraft The potential of flapping wing aerodynamics for application to micro-air vehicles has led to recent interest in the area of flapping wing propulsion especially in the low Reynolds flight regime. In this FYP report, the author investigated a two-dimensional computational model of a pure plunging flat plate and its corresponding force coefficients and vortex flows. The focus of this project is to analyse the relationship between drag coefficient and plunging frequency of a flat plate in Reynolds flow of 104. Firstly, the test case of a stationary cylinder in the same Reynolds number regime is set up. Velocity measurements at various wake distances (4d-7d behind centre of cylinder) were obtained (i) experimentally using hot wire anemometer in a water tunnel and (ii) computationally using Jetcode, based on the immersed boundary method. Drag coefficient is found to increase with increasing wake distance. The experimental and computational drag coefficients obtained were also compared with values found in literature and all were in good agreement, within 10% of each other. Secondly, the flat plate was set to plunge at 8 non-dimensionalised frequencies ranging from 0.129 to 0.275 at constant non-dimensionalised amplitude of 0.34. The results show a general increasing trend of thrust force produced by the flat plate with increasing plunging frequencies. Thrust is observed to be produced when the kh value exceeds 0.05 and even appears to exceed a plunging NACA0012 airfoil in Reynolds flow of 105 at 0.275 at kh=0.54. Flow visualisation of the direction of vortices at frequency 0.129 and 0.275 indicated drag and thrust respectively. Drag coefficients were found to be relatively constant at different wake distances. Lastly, additional simulations with finer grid and hot wire measurements of wake velocities of the plunging flat plate would help to shed more light into the difference in values of force coefficients computed from pressure forces acting directly on the cylinder and B.M. Jones‟ wake transverse method. Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering) 2010-06-17T03:44:55Z 2010-06-17T03:44:55Z 2010 2010 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40633 en Nanyang Technological University 69 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Aircraft
Tan, Rui Xia.
Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title_full Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title_fullStr Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title_full_unstemmed Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title_short Micro air vehicles : flapping wing propulsion
title_sort micro air vehicles flapping wing propulsion
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Aircraft
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40633
work_keys_str_mv AT tanruixia microairvehiclesflappingwingpropulsion