scholarly journals Effects of flexibility on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings

2011 ◽  
Vol 689 ◽  
pp. 32-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.-K. Kang ◽  
H. Aono ◽  
C. E. S. Cesnik ◽  
W. Shyy

AbstractEffects of chordwise, spanwise, and isotropic flexibility on the force generation and propulsive efficiency of flapping wings are elucidated. For a moving body immersed in viscous fluid, different types of forces, as a function of the Reynolds number, reduced frequency (k), and Strouhal number (St), acting on the moving body are identified based on a scaling argument. In particular, at the Reynolds number regime of $O(1{0}^{3} \ensuremath{-} 1{0}^{4} )$ and the reduced frequency of $O(1)$, the added mass force, related to the acceleration of the wing, is important. Based on the order of magnitude and energy balance arguments, a relationship between the propulsive force and the maximum relative wing-tip deformation parameter ($\gamma $) is established. The parameter depends on the density ratio, St, k, natural and flapping frequency ratio, and flapping amplitude. The lift generation, and the propulsive efficiency can be deduced by the same scaling procedures. It seems that the maximum propulsive force is obtained when flapping near the resonance, whereas the optimal propulsive efficiency is reached when flapping at about half of the natural frequency; both are supported by the reported studies. The established scaling relationships can offer direct guidance for micro air vehicle design and performance analysis.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 168781401988416
Author(s):  
Mahmoud E Abd El-Latief ◽  
Khairy Elsayed ◽  
Mohamed Madbouli Abdelrahman

In this study, Aeshna cyanea dragonfly forewing mid-cross-section corrugated airfoil was simulated at ultra-low Reynolds number. The corrugated airfoil was compared with its smooth counterpart to study the effect of the corrugations upon the aerodynamic performance. Unsteady two-dimensional laminar flow was solved using FLUENT. This study was divided into gliding phase and flapping phase. In the gliding phase, the corrugated airfoil produced a higher lift force with respect to the profiled airfoil at both tested Reynolds numbers ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) with comparable drag coefficient for all the tested angles of attack. In the flapping phase, both the corrugated airfoil and the flat-plate have a very similar flow behavior which yields a very similar aerodynamic performance at Re[Formula: see text]. A structural analysis was performed to compare the corrugated airfoil with the flat-plate. The analysis revealed the superiority of the corrugated airfoil over the flat-plate in decreasing the deflection under the applied load. The reduced frequency was varied to study its impact on the aerodynamic performance. By increasing the reduced frequency, the thrust and the lift forces increased by [Formula: see text]% and [Formula: see text]%, respectively. Any increase in the reduced frequency will increase lift and thrust forces, but the propulsive efficiency will deteriorate.


2010 ◽  
Vol 658 ◽  
pp. 148-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRE M. FERNANDES ◽  
R. KRISHNAMURTI

Subtropical ocean waters are susceptible to the occurrence of salt finger instability. The effect of salt fingers in modifying water mass properties may depend upon the ubiquitous presence of oceanic shear produced by internal wave motion. We present an experimental study of the buoyancy fluxes produced by sugar–salt fingers in the presence of a laminar shear flow. As is commonly done in the laboratory, sugar (the slower diffuser) was used as a proxy for salt, and salt (the faster diffuser compared to sugar) was used as a proxy for cold. Sugar–salt fingers, initially aligned vertically, were observed to tilt when a shear flow was imposed. A consistent decrease in the salt fluxes was measured as the Reynolds number (Re) was increased by increasing the shear velocity magnitude. Through regression analysis, the salt fluxes were found to depend upon the Reynolds number as Re−0.025, Re−0.1 and Re−0.34, for density ratio values (Rρ) equal to 1.2, 1.54 and 2.1 respectively. The salt fluxes produced by the sheared fingers were also found to decrease by one order of magnitude when Rρ increased from 1.2 to 2.1. A computation of the salt Nusselt number revealed that the finger fluxes approach molecular flux values when Rρ = 2.1 and Re ≃ 140.


Author(s):  
Johannes Ruhland ◽  
Christian Breitsamter

AbstractThis study presents two-dimensional aerodynamic investigations of various high-lift configuration settings concerning the deflection angles of droop nose, spoiler and flap in the context of enhancing the high-lift performance by dynamic flap movement. The investigations highlight the impact of a periodically oscillating trailing edge flap on lift, drag and flow separation of the high-lift configuration by numerical simulations. The computations are conducted with regard to the variation of the parameters reduced frequency and the position of the rotational axis. The numerical flow simulations are conducted on a block-structured grid using Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes simulations employing the shear stress transport $$k-\omega $$ k - ω turbulence model. The feature Dynamic Mesh Motion implements the motion of the oscillating flap. Regarding low-speed wind tunnel testing for a Reynolds number of $$0.5 \times 10^{6}$$ 0.5 × 10 6 the flap movement around a dropped hinge point, which is located outside the flap, offers benefits with regard to additional lift and delayed flow separation at the flap compared to a flap movement around a hinge point, which is located at 15 % of the flap chord length. Flow separation can be suppressed beyond the maximum static flap deflection angle. By means of an oscillating flap around the dropped hinge point, it is possible to reattach a separated flow at the flap and to keep it attached further on. For a Reynolds number of $$20 \times 10^6$$ 20 × 10 6 , reflecting full scale flight conditions, additional lift is generated for both rotational axis positions.


Author(s):  
Venkata Ravishankar Kasibhotla ◽  
Danesh Tafti

The paper is concerned with the prediction and analysis of dynamic stall of flow past a pitching NACA0012 airfoil at 1 million Reynolds number based on the chord length of the airfoil and at reduced frequency of 0.25 in a three dimensional flow field. The turbulence in the flow field is resolved using large eddy simulations with the dynamic Smagorinsky model at the sub grid scale. The development of dynamic stall vortex, shedding and reattachment as predicted by the present study are discussed in detail. This study has shown that the downstroke phase of the pitching motion is strongly three dimensional and is highly complex, whereas the flow is practically two dimensional during the upstroke. The lift coefficient agrees well with the measurements during the upstroke. However, there are differences during the downstroke. The computed lift coefficient undergoes a sharp drop during the start of the downstroke as the convected leading edge vortex moves away from the airfoil surface. This is followed by a recovery of the lift coefficient with the formation of a secondary trailing edge vortex. While these dynamics are clearly reflected in the predicted lift coefficient, the experimental evolution of lift during the downstroke maintains a fairly smooth and monotonic decrease in the lift coefficient with no lift recovery. The simulations also show that the reattachment process of the stalled airfoil is completed before the start of the upstroke in the subsequent cycle due to the high reduced frequency of the pitching cycle.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakan Coşanay ◽  
Hakan F. Oztop ◽  
Fatih Selimefendigil

Purpose The purpose of this study is to perform computational analysis on the steady flow and heat transfer due to a slot nanojet impingement onto a heated moving body. The object is moving at constant speed and nanoparticle is included in the heat transfer fluid. The unsteady flow effects and interactions of multiple impinging jets are also considered. Design/methodology/approach The finite volume method was used as the solver in the numerical simulation. The movement of the hot body in the channel is also considered. Influence of various pertinent parameters such as Reynolds number, jet to target surface spacing and solid nanoparticle volume fraction on the convective heat transfer characteristics are numerically studied in the transient regime. Findings It is found that the flow field and heat transfer becomes very complicated due to the interaction of multiple impinging jets with the movement of the hot body in the channel. Higher heat transfer rates are achieved with higher values of Reynolds number while the inclusion of nanoparticles resulted in a small impact on flow friction. The middle jet was found to play an important role in the heat transfer behavior while jet and moving body temperatures become equal after t = 80. Originality/value Even though some studies exist for the application of jet impingement heat transfer for a moving plate, the configuration with a solid moving hot body on a moving belt under the impacts of unsteady flow effects and interactions of multiple impinging jets have never been considered. The results of the present study will be helpful in the design and optimization of various systems related to convective drying of products, metal processing industry, thermal management in electronic cooling and many other systems.


1998 ◽  
Vol 360 ◽  
pp. 41-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. ANDERSON ◽  
K. STREITLIEN ◽  
D. S. BARRETT ◽  
M. S. TRIANTAFYLLOU

Thrust-producing harmonically oscillating foils are studied through force and power measurements, as well as visualization data, to classify the principal characteristics of the flow around and in the wake of the foil. Visualization data are obtained using digital particle image velocimetry at Reynolds number 1100, and force and power data are measured at Reynolds number 40 000. The experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions of linear and nonlinear inviscid theory and it is found that agreement between theory and experiment is good over a certain parametric range, when the wake consists of an array of alternating vortices and either very weak or no leading-edge vortices form. High propulsive efficiency, as high as 87%, is measured experimentally under conditions of optimal wake formation. Visualization results elucidate the basic mechanisms involved and show that conditions of high efficiency are associated with the formation on alternating sides of the foil of a moderately strong leading-edge vortex per half-cycle, which is convected downstream and interacts with trailing-edge vorticity, resulting eventually in the formation of a reverse Kármán street. The phase angle between transverse oscillation and angular motion is the critical parameter affecting the interaction of leading-edge and trailing-edge vorticity, as well as the efficiency of propulsion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Yonghui Xie ◽  
Kun Lu ◽  
Di Zhang ◽  
Gongnan Xie

The thrust generation performance of airfoils with modified pitching motion was investigated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling two-dimensional laminar flow at Reynolds number of 104. The effect of shift distance of the pitch axis outside the chord line(R), reduced frequency(k), pitching amplitude(θ), pitching profile, and airfoil shape (airfoil thickness and camber) on the thrust generated and efficiency were studied. The results reveal that the increase inRandkleads to an enhancement in thrust generation and a decrease in propulsive efficiency. Besides, there exists an optimal range ofθfor the maximum thrust and the increasingθinduces a rapid decrease in propulsive efficiency. Six adjustable parameters(K)were employed to realize various nonsinusoidal pitching profiles. An increase inKresults in more thrust generated at the cost of decreased propulsive efficiency. The investigation of the airfoil shape effect reveals that there exists an optimal range of airfoil thickness for the best propulsion performance and that the vortex structure is strongly influenced by the airfoil thickness, while varying the camber or camber location of airfoil sections offers no benefit in thrust generation over symmetric airfoil sections.


Author(s):  
A. Kohli ◽  
K. A. Thole

Film-cooling is a widely used method of prolonging blade life in high performance gas turbines and is implemented by injecting cold air through discrete holes on the blade surface. Most experimental research on film-cooling has been performed using round holes supplied by a stagnant plenum. This can be quite different from the actual turbine blade conditions in that a crossflow may be present whereby the internal channel Reynolds number could be as high as 90,000. This computational study uses a film-cooling hole that is inclined at 35° with respect to the mainstream and is diffused at the hole exit by 15°. An engine representative jet-to-mainstream density ratio of two was simulated. The test matrix consisted of fourteen different cases that were simulated for the two different blowing ratios in which the following effects were investigated: a) the effect of the orientation of the coolant supply channel relative to the cooling hole, b) the effect of the channel Reynolds number, and c) the effect of the metering length of the cooling hole. Results showed that the orientation of the coolant supply had a large effect whereby the worst orientation, in terms of a reduced adiabatic effectiveness, was predicted when the channel supplying the cooling hole was perpendicular to the mainstream. For this particular orientation, higher laterally averaged effectiveness occurred at lower channel Reynolds numbers and with the hole having a short metering length.


2005 ◽  
Vol 42 (04) ◽  
pp. 177-183
Author(s):  
Poul Andersen ◽  
Anne-Sophie Borrod ◽  
Hervé Blanchot

A simple method has been established for the evaluation of the service performance of ships. Input data are easily collected daily on board and transformed to a well-defined condition that makes possible the comparison between ships, for instance, sister ships, and between different time periods of voyages for the same ship. The procedure has been applied to two ships that are identical, with the only exception that one has a conventional propeller, whereas the other one is fitted with a high-efficiency propeller of the KAPPEL type. The results are obtained from a period of 2 years steaming for both vessels. They clearly confirm the increase of propulsive efficiency obtained with the KAPPEL propeller in the order of magnitude of 4%.


Author(s):  
Francis Hauris ◽  
Onur Bilgen

This paper investigates the dynamic aeroelastic behavior of strain actuated flapping wings with various geometries and boundary conditions. A fluid-structure interaction model of a plate-like flapping wing is developed. Assuming a chord Reynolds number of 100,000, the wing is harmonically actuated while varying parameters such as aspect ratio and wing root clamped percentage. Characteristic metrics for the dynamic motion, natural frequency, lift and drag are developed. These results are compared with purely structural behavior to understand the aeroelastic effects.


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