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Manipal Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

As a result of technological advancements in a variety of areas, the development of advanced ornithopters is becoming a reality and will be available in the distant future. Flapping wings are likely to be used by MAVs because there is strong evidence that, for very small craft, flapping wing performance outperforms other options due to dynamic effects. This paper summarizes the numerical work done to investigate the aerodynamic performance of a flapping wing model inspired by ornithopters. A model wing was built to focus on specific dimensions, motion characteristics, and performance parameters. To assist in understanding the physical phenomena, model geometry was defined based on actual morphology. By combining high-accuracy predictions with engineering modelling, tools and capabilities were developed. At low Reynold’s number, the detailed flow physics were captured using a highly accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution using ANSYS. To understand the performance of the wing in flapping flight, a thorough investigation of aerodynamic parameters such as lift drag, and thrust was carried out. It was discovered that the wing generates the most lift during the downstroke of the flapping motion, which is also accompanied by the highest amplitude. The wing compressing the air during a downstroke, which causes an adverse change in pressure gradient, causes this.

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