Computational and Experimental Study on Lift Characteristics of Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Recent interest in the development of Micro-Air Vehicles (MAVs) has led to a renewed interest in flapping-wing MAVs, which will produce lift as well as thrust by wing flapping without any excessive size and weight. The present study focused on lift characteristics of a flapping flight with respect to various flapping amplitude, flapping frequency and free stream velocity for different wing planform models. The computational study was carried out by CFD package. The results were verified with experimental values. Experiments were carried out in an open jet tabletop tunnel having test section of 350×350 mm and velocity range up to 10 m/s. Flapping actuation was generated by a newly developed rack and gear mechanism. A strain-gauge type load cell was used to measure the lift force. The wings of various cambered shape have been fabricated using Carbon composites as spars and Mylar sheet as a skin. Skins are attached to the skeleton part of the wings by using super glue bond. The effect of planform shape and span, chord wise camber on lift characteristics are discussed.