Motion Analysis of Butterfly-Style Flapping Robot Using CFD Based on 3D-CAD Model and Experimental Flight Data

Abstract

In this paper, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis system based on a 3D-CAD model of a butterfly-style flapping robot using its experimental flight data is proposed. The butterfly-style flapping robot can control its attitude by changing its flapping and lead-lag angles; however, measuring the lift, thrust, and body pitch moment directly during flight is difficult. In the case of the flight motion analysis of insects, the state of flight has been photographed, and numerical analysis has been performed to obtain the flow field around the wings. However, when performing the motion analysis of hardware, it is difficult to reflect the shape of the body accurately using this method. In this study, a CFD analysis system considered the shape of the developed butterfly-style flapping robot as 3D-CAD data and analyzed the flow field around the wings using the experimental flight data of the hardware. The results of motion analysis showed that the attitude during flight differs due to the difference in lifts and body pitch moments in the flight experiment data of the hardware with different neutral angles of the flapping wings.