Influence of Different Take-Off Weights on the Longitudinal Dynamic Stability of Flapping-Wing MAVs
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34, Issue 3
Abstract
Due to different requirements of flight tasks, take-off weights vary according to different payloads, which will definitely influence the trim characteristics and flight dynamics of vehicles. When the mass ratio between the flapping wing and body increases to a certain value, it is necessary to regard flapping-wing microair vehicles (FWMAVs) as a multibody system, and the rigid-body model is no longer appropriate to be used as dynamic modeling. The flight dynamic stability analysis considering the oscillation of body, wing flexibility, and variation of take-off weight in forward flight is worthwhile to be studied. In this study, based on a method coupling three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD), computational structural dynamics (CSD), and multibody dynamic equations for FWMAVs, the dynamic and trim characteristics of systems with different take-off weights have been studied and compared. In addition, the dynamic stability has been analyzed and compared by three different methods including the averaged method, Floquet method, and direct time integration. Results show that with the increase of take-off weight, the FWMAV in forward flight changes from unstable (wing to body mass ratio is 8.5%) to stable (wing to body mass ratio is 6% and 7%). The transformation of stability mainly results from two contributions: the change of trim conditions and body oscillation. Furthermore, a direct time integration method has been used to address the impact of nonlinear effects. The results show that a nonlinear term does not change the qualitative results of stability but will change the specific evolution of state variables compared with a linear model. The quantitative results can give insight into the design of FWMAVs with different wing to body mass ratios.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
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 study was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No. 2017YFB1300102, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11572255, U1613227, and 11902103, and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant No. 2019M651294.
References
Au, L. T. K., and H. C. Park. 2019. “Influence of center of gravity location on flight dynamic stability in a hovering tailless FW-MAV: Longitudinal motion.” J. Bionic Eng. 16 (1): 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-019-0012-9.
Cheng, X., and S. Lan. 2015. “Effects of chordwise flexibility on the aerodynamic performance of a 3D flapping wing.” J. Bionic Eng. 12 (3): 432–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1672-6529(14)60134-7.
de Croon, G. C. H. E., K. M. E. de Clercq, R. Ruijsink, B. Remes, and C. de Wagter. 2009. “Design, aerodynamics, and vision-based control of the DelFly.” Int. J. Micro Air Veh. 1 (2): 71–97. https://doi.org/10.1260/175682909789498288.
Keennon, M., K. Klingebiel, and H. Won. 2012. “Development of the Nano hummingbird: A tailless flapping wing micro air vehicle.” In Proc., 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Kim, J. K., and J. H. Han. 2014. “A multibody approach for 6-DOF flight dynamics and stability analysis of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.” Bioinspiration Biomimetics 9 (1): 016011. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3182/9/1/016011.
Lee, J. S., et al. 2011. “Longitudinal flight dynamics of bioinspired ornithopter considering fluid-structure interaction.” J. Guidance Control Dyn. 34 (3): 667–677. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.53354.
Ma, K. Y., P. Chirarattananon, S. Fuller, and R. J. Wood. 2013. “Controlled flight of a biologically inspired, insect-scale robot.” Science 340 (6132): 603–607. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1231806.
Orlowski, C. T., and A. R. Girard. 2011. “Modeling and simulation of nonlinear dynamics of flapping wing micro air vehicles.” AIAA J. 49 (5): 969–981. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.J050649.
Rugh, W. J. 1996. Linear system theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Shraf, M. A., J. Young, and J. C. S. Lai. 2011. “Reynolds number, thickness and camber effects on flapping airfoil propulsion.” J. Fluid Struct. 27 (2): 145–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2010.11.010.
Shyy, W., H. Aono, S. K. Chimakurthi, P. Trizila, C. K. Kang, C. E. Cesnik, and H. Liu. 2010. “Recent progress in flapping wing aerodynamics and aeroelasticity.” Prog. Aerosp. Sci. 46 (7): 284–327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2010.01.001.
Sun, M., J. H. Wu, and Y. Xiong. 2007. “Dynamic flight stability of hovering insects.” Acta Mech. Sin. 23 (3): 231–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-007-0068-3.
Taylor, G. K., and A. L. R. Thomas. 2003. “Dynamic flight stability in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria.” J. Exp. Biol. 206 (16): 2803–2829. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00501.
Wu, J. H., and M. Sun. 2012. “Floquet stability analysis of the longitudinal dynamics of two hovering model insects.” J. R. Soc. Interface 9 (74): 2033–2046. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2012.0072.
Wu, J. H., Y. L. Zhang, and M. Sun. 2009. “Hovering of model insects: Simulation by coupling equations of motion with Navier-Stokes equations.” J. Exp. Biol. 212 (20): 3313–3329. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.030494.
Xue, D., B. Song, W. Song, and W. Yang. 2016. “Effect of wing flexibility on flight dynamics stability of flapping wing MAVs in forward flight.” Int. J. Micro Air Veh. 8 (3): 170–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829316663705.
Xue, D., B. Song, W. Song, W. Yang, and W. Xu. 2019a. “The longitudinal stability of FWMAVs considering the oscillation of body in forward flight.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robotics and Applications. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Xue, D., B. Song, W. Song, W. Yang, W. Xu, and T. Wu. 2019b. “Computational simulation and free flight validation of body vibration of flapping-wing MAV in forward flight.” Aerosp. Sci. Technol. 95 (Dec): 105491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2019.105491.
Yakubovich, V. A., and V. M. Starzhinskii. 1975. Linear differential equations with periodic coefficients. New York: Wiley.
Yang, W., B. Song, L. Wang, and L. Chen. 2015. “Dynamic fluid-structure coupling method of flexible flapping wing for MAV.” J. Aerosp. Eng. 28 (6): 04015006. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000490.
Yang, W., L. Wang, and B. Song. 2017. “Dove: A biomimetic flapping-wing micro air vehicle.” Int. J. Micro Air Veh. 10 (1): 70–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/1756829317734837.
Zhang, Y. L., and M. Sun. 2010. “Dynamic flight stability of a hovering model insect: Lateral motion.” Acta Mech. Sin. 26 (2): 175–190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-009-0303-1.
Zhou, C., Y. Zhang, and J. Wu. 2018. “Unsteady aerodynamic forces and power consumption of a micro flapping, rotary wing in hovering flight.” J. Bionic Eng. 15 (2): 298–312. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-018-0023-y.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 34 • Issue 3 • May 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 1, 2020
Accepted: Oct 9, 2020
Published online: Jan 20, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 20, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.