Abstract
Many previous studies have shown that wing corrugation of an insect wing is only structurally beneficial in enhancing the wing’s bending stiffness and does not much help to improve the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings. This study uses two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in aiming to identify a proper wing corrugation that can enhance the aerodynamic performance of the KUBeetle, an insect-like flapping-wing micro air vehicle (MAV), which operates at a Reynolds number of less than 13,000. For this purpose, various two-dimensional corrugated wings were numerically investigated. The two-dimensional flapping wing motion was extracted from the measured three-dimensional wing kinematics of the KUBeetle at spanwise locations of r = (0.375 and 0.75)R. The CFD analysis showed that at both spanwise locations, the corrugations placed over the entire wing were not beneficial for improving aerodynamic efficiency. However, for the two-dimensional flapping wing at the spanwise location of r = 0.375R, where the wing experiences relatively high angles of attack, three specially designed wings with leading-edge corrugation showed higher aerodynamic performance than that of the non-corrugated smooth wing. The improvement is closely related to the flow patterns formed around the wings. Therefore, the proposed leading-edge corrugation is suggested for the inboard wing of the KUBeetle to enhance aerodynamic performance. The corrugation in the inboard wing may also be structurally beneficial.
Highlights
For several decades, the characteristics of the corrugations found in insect wings have attracted considerable interest, because of their promising application to the design of micro air vehicles (MAVs).The contribution of the corrugation to wing stiffness is relatively well studied, and it has been concluded that wing corrugation contributes to spanwise bending stiffness with low mass, preventing wing fracture while allowing wing twist and wing camber formation [1]
These advantages of the corrugated wing are considered to be applicable to the wings of insect-like flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FW-MAVs) [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]
The effects of wing corrugation on the aerodynamic performance were investigated to identify a proper wing corrugation to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of the insect-like flapping-wing MAV called KUBeetle
Summary
The contribution of the corrugation to wing stiffness is relatively well studied, and it has been concluded that wing corrugation contributes to spanwise bending stiffness with low mass, preventing wing fracture while allowing wing twist and wing camber formation [1]. These advantages of the corrugated wing are considered to be applicable to the wings of insect-like flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FW-MAVs) [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The wing stiffness must be high enough to maintain the wing shape during flapping motion so that it can meet the desired aerodynamic performance requirement
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
