27th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, 19 - 24 September 2010, Nice, France
Paper ICAS 2010-6.10.4

EFFECT OF WING PLANFORM SHAPE ON THE FLOW STRUCTURES OF AN INSECT-LIKE FLAPPING WING IN HOVER

N. Phillips, K. Knowles, N. J. Lawson
Cranfield Univ., UK

Keywords: flapping wing, insect flight, micro air vehicle, leading-edge vortex, particle image velocimetry

The effects of varying wing geometry on the aerodynamic forces and spanwise flow produced by an insect-like flapping wing in hover are studied experimentally. Experiments are performed with a mechanical flapping-wing apparatus that mimics insect-like flapping-wing motion, with adjustable kinematics up to a 20Hz flapping frequency in air.

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