New Flow Control Optimal Design Method of Flapping Wing Coupled with a Prepositive Elliptical Wing
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 37, Issue 1
Abstract
A flapping-wing flow control method based on a prepositive elliptical wing is proposed in this study. A tiny elliptical wing is designed at a specific position around the leading edge of the flapping wing to suppress and improve flow separation by the airfoil and achieve the purpose of increasing lift and reducing drag. Furthermore, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to optimize the aerodynamic design of the prepositive elliptical wing–flapping wing composite configuration under attached flow and separated flow. The long axis length, short axis length, deflection angle, and positional relationship with the main wing of the prepositive wing are taken as the design variables, and the maximum time-averaged lift-to-drag ratio in a flapping cycle is taken as the optimization objective to obtain the optimal configuration under attached flow and separated flow. The simulation and optimization results show that the increment of the time-averaged lift-to-drag ratio of the prepositive elliptical wing–flapping wing optimal configuration under attached flow is 1.2 times that of the original airfoil, while the increment of the time-averaged lift-to-drag ratio of the optimal configuration under separated flow is approximately 0.5, and the prepositive wing completely inhibits the separation of the flow on the top surface of the flapping wing. In addition, the influence of the parameters is analyzed, and a general design for the prepositive elliptical wing–flapping wing configuration is given.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 12202363), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. G2020KY05115), and the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi (Program No. 2021JQ-084).
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 37 • Issue 1 • January 2024
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 26, 2022
Accepted: Sep 7, 2023
Published online: Nov 10, 2023
Published in print: Jan 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Apr 10, 2024
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