Aerodynamic characterization of bio-mimicked pleated dragonfly aerofoil

Abstract

The work inspired by the dragonfly wing corrugation positioned at the front wing's radius section lying at 40% of the total wingspan of forewing from the root section. During gliding flight, dragonfly wings presumed to be an ultra-light aerofoil due to its well-defined cross-sectional corrugation. The aerodynamic simulation carried out to understand the aerodynamic performance of a bio-mimetic dragonfly corrugated airfoil at low Reynolds number range of 75000-150000 to explore the potential advantages of pleated airfoils at a varying angle of attack from 0° to 12°. CFD analysis accomplished by using ANSYS Fluent to understand the aerodynamic performance of the pleated aerofoil and its counterpart profiled aerofoil. The simulation result exhibits aerodynamic commission, i.e. the corrugated aerofoil's gliding ratio (CL/CD), is higher than that of a profiled aerofoil. The analysis demonstrates that the pleated corrugated aerofoil produces a comparable higher lift coefficient than that of profiled aerofoil NACA 0015 and reduces the separation bubble. The vortices trapped inside the valleys, which re-energize the flow and delay flow separation leads to an increment in lift coefficient (CL). These investigations amplify the demand of insect-inspired corrugated wing structure and make a possible application for improved design of pretended wings for micro air vehicles.