Session: 12-03-03: General: Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Fluids

Paper Number: 145667

145667 - Design of a Flapping Wing Apparatus to Measure Aerodynamic Forces Using Wing Flexibility 

In this paper, we report on our progress in designing and building a flapping wing apparatus with flexible wings. Flapping Wing Air Vehicles (FWAVs) represent a middle ground in the performance achievements of traditional rotary drone and fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Rotary drone applications are generally tailored to fixed position hovering and precise cartesian movement, while fixed wing drone applications are centered around long distance travel and payload delivery. FWAVs, in theory, have the capability of transferring between forward and hovering flight in the likeness of their insect and bird bio inspired counterparts. Our goal is to investigate the viability of utilizing aerodynamic force measurements on a flapping wing for the purpose of controlling the system. This work is inspired by the cuticle based strain sensing mechanosensors found in insect wings. These mechanosensors detect wing strain and deformation under actuation, which provides valuable sensory information in regards to flight stability and the changing environment. The core of aerodynamic feasibility with an aerial vehicle lies with both its lift to weight ratio and controllability, which relies heavily on structural design and mechanisms of lift. For the FWAV, wing design has been a topic of research with special attention to assembled lightweight designs inspired by birds and insects found in nature. One difficulty in this approach, which generally relies on Mylar film and carbon fiber spar construction, is repeatability in manufacturing which can lead to control and misbalancing issues as flapping fliers are designed to have wings in pairs. An alternative to an assembled design would be a single material non assembled wing that would be able to perform aerodynamically similar to an assembled wing in order to achieve a more repeatable and controlled manufacturing process. This paper aims to investigate a testing method and setup of thin semi rigid single material wing and conduct trials on select metal, composite, and plastic test samples with comparable deflection properties. To achieve these goals, we developed a gear driven slider crank mechanism to simultaneously actuate two flapping wings with a central actuating motor. The process of the design and manufacturing steps are described in the paper. To be able to characterize the aerodynamic force generation on each wing with respect to the wing movement at various freestream velocities, we attached strain sensors on the flapping wings with different flexural characteristics including different thicknesses and materials. After that, we assemble the prototype on a load cell to measure the total aerodynamic forces and find the relationship between the strain gauge data and the resultant lift and drag aerodynamic forces.

Presenting Author: Hamid Vejdani Lawrence Technological University

Presenting Author Biography: Hamid Vejdani, PhD is with A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical, Robotics and Industrial Engineering at Lawrence Technological University. His research interests are dynamics, control and bio-inspired robotics.

Authors:

Bradley Rayman Lawrence Technological University
Badih Jawad Lawrence Technological University
Hamid Vejdani Lawrence Technological University