Probabilistic design of flapping airfoils in gusty environments

Presented in this paper is a probabilistic strategy to optimize the performance of a flapping airfoil in gusty environments. Frontal gusts are modeled through harmonic functions with random parameters. Adverse effects of unpredictable wind variations on the airfoil performance are mitigated by adopting a Robust Design Optimization strategy which achieves a convenient trade-off between the accuracy and the efficiency of the optimization procedure. This lays a reliable and practical foundation towards accounting for complex operational environments within the design optimization framework. Furthermore, the obtained results give insight into the robustness of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) wings in response to wind perturbations, and its relationship with the installed power and thrust.

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