APS March Meeting 2024
Monday–Friday, March 4–8, 2024;
Minneapolis & Virtual
Session MM03: V: DMP General Physics I
5:30 AM–7:30 AM,
Thursday, March 7, 2024
Room: Virtual Room 03
Sponsoring
Unit:
DMP
Chair: Sanjeev Kumar, University College London; Dan-Adrian German, Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract: MM03.00010 : Aerodynamic Modelling of 3-DOF Flapping Kinematics and Dynamic Modelling of 2-DOF FWMAV
7:18 AM–7:30 AM
Abstract
Presenter:
Kshitij Anand
(Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)
Authors:
Kshitij Anand
(Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)
Sunil Manohar Dash
(Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India – 721302)
Sophie F Armanini
(Technical University of Munich)
The study investigates the flight dynamics of dragonflies, focusing on their unique wing kinematics and aerodynamic performance. Dragonflies exhibit various flight modes, including hover, glide, forward flight, and quick maneuvers, each requiring distinct wing movements. Numerical simulations were used with a dynamic mesh to analyze the wake structure over tandem dragonfly wings and optimized their aerodynamic performance. Wing geometries from previous structural studies and combined pure sinusoidal and periodic Eldredge functions for wing motion were used to conduct the study. The study found that the combined vertical lift coefficient of both wings is 1.56 times greater than their individual coefficients. The hindwing experiences the most lift enhancement due to vortex synergy interaction, while downwash-upwash wake interactions are insignificant during in-phase flapping. A mechanical model for a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) flapping-wing micro air vehicle (FWMAV) was developed to study stability under aerodynamic forces. In the current work, we aimed to model vortex-vortex interaction forces to improve an existing aerodynamic model. The enhancement due to vortex interactions can be represented using a parameter "k" based on phase spacing and wing spacing, controlled over time using a piece-wise sigmoid function. Comparative studies were conducted with different phase spacings and wing spacings, revealing that 90 degrees phase spacing and 0.1c wing spacing provided the best results for hovering and forward flight with minor tradeoffs on power requirements and efficiency. Additionally, 3D simulations demonstrated that forewing tip vortices interfere destructively with hindwing midspan vortices critical for generating lift, suggesting the need for longer forewings. The aerodynamic model was used to simulate the response of the 2-DOF FWMAV to different driving forces. Lower force amplitudes led to instability induced by central body inertia, with stronger damping behavior observed for the 1mN driving amplitude case. This research contributes to a better understanding of dragonfly flight dynamics and the design of flapping-wing micro air vehicles.