The Effect of Torsional and Bending Stiffness on the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wing

Abstract

For large bird-like flapping wing aircraft, the fluid–structure coupling problem is very important. Through the passive torsional deformation of the wing, sufficient thrust is generated and propulsion efficiency is ensured. Moreover, spanwise bending deformation will affect lift and thrust. The flow field on the surface of the wing and the geometric nonlinearity caused by the large deformation of the wing should be considered during the design process. Existing research methods do not solve this problem accurately and efficiently. This paper provides a method to analyze the fluid–structure coupling problem of the flapping wing which adopts the three-dimensional unsteady panel method to solve the aerodynamic force, and adopts the linear beam element model combined with the corotational formulation method to consider the geometric nonlinear deformation of the wing beam. This article compares the performance of the flapping wing with different torsional and bending stiffness, and analyzes the airfoil surface pressure coefficients at different portions of the wing during the period. The results show that torsional stiffness has a large influence on the lift coefficient, thrust coefficient and propulsion efficiency. Meanwhile, the torsional stiffness of the wing beam and the initial geometric twist angle of the wing need to be well coordinated to achieve high efficiency. Moreover, appropriate bending stiffness of the wing is conducive to improving propulsion efficiency.

Keywords

• fluid–structure coupling
• propulsion efficiency
• unsteady panel method
• geometric nonlinearity
• flapping wing