Aerodynamics and Flight Stability of Bio-inspired, Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles

In this chapter, we present an integrated study of flexible wing aerodynamics and passive dynamic flight stability of a prototype bio-inspired, flapping-wing micro air vehicle (MAV) by a combination of flexible wing kinematics and force measurements and computational approaches. The MAV is weighted 2.4–3.0 g, equipped with an X-type wing and a wingspan of 12–15 cm. A bio-inspired, dynamic flight simulator is utilized to evaluate the aerodynamic performance of the flexible wing MAV. This simulator, by integrating the modeling of realistic wing-body morphology and realistic flapping-wing and body kinematics, is capable to provide an evaluation of the MAV’s unsteady aerodynamics in terms of vortex and wake structures and their relationship with aerodynamic force generation.

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