Design of a Human Muscle-Powered Flying Machine

Abstract

This study explores the design and development of a human-powered aircraft (HPA), leveraging modern engineering techniques, materials science, and advanced CAD/CAM tools. The project addresses key aspects of aircraft design, including the geometry of wings and tail, control and power transmission mechanisms, propeller selection, and material identification to achieve ultra-lightweight construction. The 3DExperience platform facilitated comprehensive model creation, simulation, and production process development, while XFLR5 was employed for aerodynamic profile analysis using the vortex lattice and panel methods. JavaProp aided in evaluating propeller thrust and power requirements. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using the SST k-ω turbulence model provided critical insights into flow behavior. The design was found to be theoretically capable of flight, although challenges arose in selecting appropriate software for aerodynamic analysis, leading to the use of XFLR5 for early-stage design and the more advanced 3DExperience platform for final evaluations. Although structural strength analyses were not performed due to the complexity of composite materials, future work in this area could enhance the precision of component selection and aircraft mass estimation.

Keywords

• human-powered aircraft (HPA)
• muscle-powered flight
• wing design
• aerodynamic analysis
• structural optimization
• CAD/CAM modeling