Computations of Flows past an Insect -Like Flapping Wing

The Institute for Aerospace Research of the National Research Council Canada (NRCIAR) is carrying out research work to develop and validate efficient experimental models and numerical algorithms for unsteady low-Reynolds-number flow solvers, as well as to investigate the aeromechanical aspects of unsteady insect-like flapping wings for nano-air vehicles (NAV). This paper reports on the implementation of some special features used for simulating complex flapping-wing aerodynamics, such as grid degeneration, blockstructured parallelization, and overlapping grids. Preliminary results for an insect-like wing obtained using the in-house code INSflow indicate that fully three-dimensional flow separation may persist on the wing surface during flapping motions. The discrepancies between numerical and experimental results are also discussed.

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