• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.86-103
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• 2006

Using a combination of force transducer measurement to quantify net lift force, high frame rate camera to quantify and subtract inertial contributions, and Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) to calculate aerodynamic contributions in the spanwise plane, the contribution of spanwise flow to the generation of lift force in wings undergoing a pure flapping motion in hover is shown as a function of flapping angle throughout the flapping cycle. These experiments were repeated at various flapping frequencies and for various wing planform sizes for flat plate and span wise cambered wings. Despite the previous identification of the importance of span wise fluid structures in the generation of lift force in flapping wings throughout the existing body of literature, the direct contribution of spanwise flow to lift force generated has not previously been quantified. Therefore, in the same manner as commonly applied to investigate the chordwise lift distribution across an airfoil in flapping wings, spanwise flow due to bulk flow and rotational fluid dynamic mechanisms will be investigated to validate the existence of a direct component of the lift force originating from the flapping motion in the spanwise plane instead.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.67-87
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• 2012

A dragonfly inspired flapping wing is investigated in this paper. The flapping wing is actuated from the root by a PZT-5H and PZN-7%PT single crystal unimorph in the piezofan configuration. The non-linear governing equations of motion of the smart flapping wing are obtained using the Hamilton's principle. These equations are then discretized using the Galerkin method and solved using the method of multiple scales. Dynamic characteristics of smart flapping wings having the same size as the actual wings of three different dragonfly species Aeshna Multicolor, Anax Parthenope Julius and Sympetrum Frequens are analyzed using numerical simulations. An unsteady aerodynamic model is used to obtain the aerodynamic forces. Finally, a comparative study of performances of three piezoelectrically actuated flapping wings is performed. The numerical results in this paper show that use of PZN-7%PT single crystal piezoceramic can lead to considerable amount of wing weight reduction and increase of lift and thrust force compared to PZT-5H material. It is also shown that dragonfly inspired smart flapping wings actuated by single crystal piezoceramic are a viable contender for insect scale flapping wing micro air vehicles.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.605-611
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• 2011

In this study, based on previous studies, the thrust generated by using flapping tandem wings is examined. We studied on the relationship between the parameters for characterizing oscillatory tandem wings (namely, the Strouhal number and Reynolds number) for thrust generation in micro flow regime. At each Reynolds number, Strouhal number, heaving amplitude, distance between tandem wings, and phase difference are varied and the flapping motions of tandem mode are calculated to find the optimum conditions for generating thrust. As a result, comparing with a single flapping mode, we found that the minimum Strouhal number for generating thrust is shifted down up to approximately 25% when the tandem flapping mode is applied.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.415-420
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• 2007

Creatures in nature flap their wings to generate fluid dynamic forces that are required for the locomotion. Small-size creatures do not use flapping wings. Thus, it is questionable at which Reynolds number the propulsion using the flapping wings are effective. In this paper, the onset conditions of the thrust generation from the combined motion of flat plates (heaving, pitching in the motion and also tandem, biplane in the array) is investigated using a Lattice Boltzmann method. To solve the pitching motion of the plate on the regularly spaced lattices, 2-D moving boundary condition was implemented. The present method is validated by comparing the wake patterns behind a oscillating circular cylinder and its hydrodynamic characteristics with the CFD results. Present method can be applied to the design of micro flapping propulsors for biomedical use.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2007

Using the more common conventional chordwise aerodynamic approach, flapping a flat plate wing with zero degree chordwise pitch angle of attack and no relative wind should not produce lift. However, in hover, with no forward relative velocity and zero degree chordwise pitch angle of attack, flapping flat plate wings does in fact produce lift. In the experiments peformed for this paper, the flapping motion is considered pure(downstroke and upstroke) with no flapping stroke plane inclination angle. No changes in chordwise pitch angle are made. The total force is measured using a force transducer and the net aerodynamic force is determined from this measured total force by subtracting the experimentally determined inertial contribution. These experiments were repeated at various flapping frequencies and for various wing planform sizes for flat plate wings. The trends in the aerodynamic lift variation found using a force transducer have nearly identical shape for various flapping frequencies and wing planform sizes.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.759-764
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• 2003

Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the mechanism of hovering flight by single flapping wing, and to examine the effect of the phase difference between the fore- and hindwings in hovering flight by two flapping wings. The numerical method used is based on an immersed boundary method in Cartesian coordinates. The Reynolds number considered is Re=150 based on the maximum translational velocity and chord length of the wing. For single flapping wing, the stroke plane angles are $0^{\circ}$, $30^{\circ}$, $60^{\circ}$, $75^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ and the downstroke angles of attack are varied for each stroke angle. Results show that for each stroke plane angle, there is an optimal angle of attack to maximize the vertical force. Below the stroke angle of $60^{\circ}$, wake capturing reduces the negative vertical force during the upstroke. For two flapping wings, The phase lags of the hindwing are $0^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$ and $270^{\circ}$. The amplitudes of the stroke are 2.5 and 4.0 times the chord length at each phase lag. The results show that maximum vertical force is generated when the phase lag is zero, and the amplitude of the vertical force is minimum at the phase lag of $180^{\circ}$.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.225-232
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• 2019

In recent years, nonlinear dynamic models have been developed for flapping-type energy harvesting systems with a rigid wing, but not for those with a flexible wing. Thus, in this study, flexible wing designs of NACA0012 section are proposed and measurements of the forces of rigid cambered wings, which are used to estimate the performance of the designed wings, are conducted. Polar curves from the measured lift and drag coefficients show that JavaFoil estimation is much closer to the measured values than Eppler over the entire given range of angles of attack. As the camber of the rigid cambered wings is increased, both the lift and drag coefficients increase, in turn increasing the resultant forces. Moreover, the maximum resultant forces for all rigid cambered wings are achieved at the same angle of attack as the maximum lift coefficient, meaning that the lift coefficient is dominant in representations of the wing characteristics.

• International Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.26-30
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• 2016

Experimental study on the unsteady aerodynamics analysis and power consumption of a folding wing is accomplished using a wind tunnel testing. A folding wing model is fabricated and actuated using servo motors. The flapping wing consists of an inboard main wing and an outboard folding wing. The aerodynamic forces and consumed powers of the flapping wing are measured by changing the flapping and folding wings inside a low-speed wind tunnel. In order to calculate the aerodynamic forces, the measured forces are modified using static test data. It was found that the effect of the folding wing on the flapping wing's total lift is small but the effect of the folding wing on the total thrust is larger than the main wing. The folding motion requires the extra use of the servo motor. Thus, the amount of the energy consumption increases when both the wings are actuated together. As the flight speed increases, the power consumption of the folding wing decreases which results in energy saving.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.217-220
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• 2006

The lift and drag forces produced by a wing of a given cross-sectional profile are dependent on the wing planform and the angle of attack. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the wing span to the average chord. For conventional fixed wing aircrafts, high aspect ratio wings produce a higher lift to drag ratio than low ones for flight at subsonic speeds. Therefore, high aspect ratio wings are used on aircraft intended for long endurance. However, birds and insects flap their wings to fly in the air and they can change their wing motions. Their wing motions are made up of translation and rotation. Therefore, we tested flapping motions with parameters which affect rotational motion such as the angle of attack and the wing beat frequency. The half elliptic shaped wings were designed with the variation of aspect ratio from 4 to 11. The flapping device was operated in the water to reduce the wing beat frequency according to Reynolds similarity. In this study, the aerodynamic forces, the time-averaged force coefficients and the lift to drag ratio were measured at Reynolds number 15,000 to explore the aerodynamic characteristics with the variation of aspect ratio. The maximum lift coefficient was turned up at AR=8. The mean drag coefficients were almost same values at angle of attack from $10^{\circ}$ to $40^{\circ}$ regardless of aspect ratio, and the mean drag coefficients above angle of attack $50^{\circ}$ were decreased according to the increase of aspect ratio. For flapping motion the maximum mean lift to drag ratio appeared at AR=8.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1586-1591
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• 2004

Flow visualization experiments have been performed to investigate the effects of phase lag, reduced frequency qualitatively by examining wake pattern on a dragonfly type wing. The model was built with a scaled-up, flapping wings, composed of paired wings with fore- and hindwing in tandem, that mimicked the wing form of a dragonfly. The present study was conducted by using the smoke-wire technique, and an electronic device was mounted to find the exact positional angle of wing below the tandem wings, which amplitude is ranged from $-16.5^{\circ}$ to $+22.8^{\circ}$. Phase lag applied on the wings is $0^{\circ}$, $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$ and $270^{\circ}$. The reduced frequency is 0.15, 0.3 and 0.45 to investigate the effect of reduced frequency. It is inferred through observed wake pattern that the phase lag clearly plays an important role in the wake structures and in the flight efficiency as changing the interaction of wings. The reduced frequency also is closely related to wake pattern and determines flight efficiency.