Accession Number:

ADA586454

Title:

Aerodynamic Performance and Particle Image Velocimetery of Piezo Actuated Biomimetic Manduca Sexta Engineered Wings Towards the Design and Application of a Flapping Wing Flight Vehicle

Descriptive Note:

Doctoral thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Personal Author(s):

• DeLuca, Anthony M.

Report Date:

2013-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

328.0

Abstract:

Considerable research and investigation has been conducted on the aerodynamic performance, and the predominate flow physics of the Manduca Sexta size of biomimetically designed and fabricated wings as part of the AFIT FWMAV design project. Despite a burgeoning interest and research into the diverse field of flapping wing flight and biomimicry, the aerodynamics of flapping wing flight remains a nebulous field of science with considerable variance into the theoretical abstractions surrounding aerodynamic mechanisms responsible for aerial performance. Traditional FWMAV flight models assume a form of a quasi-steady approximation of wing aerodynamics based on an infinite wing element model BEM. An accurate estimation of the lift, drag, and side force coefficients is a critical component of autonomous stability and control models. This research focused on two separate experimental avenues into the aerodynamics of AFITs engineered hawkmoth wings---forces and flow visualization.

Descriptors:

• *AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
• *BIOMIMETICS
• *PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY
• ACCURACY
• AIRBORNE
• COEFFICIENTS
• ESTIMATES
• FLIGHT
• FLOW VISUALIZATION
• LIFT
• LOADS(FORCES)
• PIEZOELECTRICITY
• STABILITY
• VARIATIONS
• VEHICLES
• WINGS

Subject Categories:

• Aircraft
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Fluid Mechanics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE