Recent evolution of low reynolds number flyers: Paving way for Micro Air Vehicles (MAV)

Abstract

For a number of manmade and natural flyers the aerodynamics of low Reynolds number plays a crucial role. Active study of birds and insects is growing rapidly for development of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). MAVs are capable of performing tasks like surveillance, environmental monitoring and threat assessment in hostile environment. When compared to general civilian aircrafts MAVs fly at low Reynolds number regime of 105 or lower. A considerable change of aerodynamic characteristics is seen between aircrafts that operate in low and high Reynolds number regimes. Low Reynolds number flyers are sensitive to wing gust and deformation because of being lightweight and operating at low speeds. The birds have nature’s finest locomotion system when it comes to maneuvering effectively through space. This review paper will assist further studies in the field of low Reynolds number flyers that can be used for future development on MAVs. A holistic review of past two decades of research work and studies done on low Reynolds number flyers has been presented in this paper. The Theoretical, Experimental and Numerical techniques followed by researchers have been highlighted so that the study on biological and manmade flyers can be systematically presented. It was found that researchers preferred Numerical and Experimental techniques while conducting aerodynamic analysis of low Reynolds number flyers. An attempt has been made in this paper to fill the research gap that is there in mimicking the flight of animals and thus developing man-made systems having higher efficiency.