Abstract
Beetles have excellent flight performance. Based on the four-plate mechanism theory, a novel bionic flapping aircraft with foldable beetle wings was designed. It can perform flapping, gliding, wing folding, and abduction/adduction movements with a self-locking function. In order to study the flight characteristics of beetles and improve their gliding performance, this paper used a two-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) numerical simulation method to focus on the gliding performance of the bionic flapping aircraft. The effects of elastic model, rigid and flexible wing, angle of attack, and velocity on the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft in gliding flight are analyzed. It was found that the elastic modulus of the flexible hinges has little effect on the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. Both the rigid and the flexible wings have a maximum lift-to-drag ratio when the attack angle is 10°. The lift increased with the increase of the gliding speed, and it was found that the lift cannot support the gliding movement at low speeds. In order to achieve gliding, considering the weight and flight performance, the weight of the microair vehicle is controlled at about 3 g, and the gliding speed is guaranteed to be greater than 6.5 m/s. The results of this study are of great significance for the design of bionic flapping aircrafts.
Highlights
Most insects and birds in nature have excellent flight performance [1, 2]
The development of flapping-wing aircrafts has benefited from the interactive integration of bionics and multidisciplinary interaction
They are of the same order of magnitude, with a comparable Reynolds number, and fully in line with the prototype requirements of MAV design
Summary
Most insects and birds in nature have excellent flight performance [1, 2]. In the evolutionary history of life on Earth, insects were the first to acquire flying skills, at least 50 million years earlier than reptiles and birds. The above studies demonstrated that current research is mainly focused on the mechanical design and simulation of beetle-like flapping-wing aircrafts and the aerodynamic analysis of forward flight and hovering Gliding is another skill that nature has provided to birds and insects, which is the most labor-saving of all flying movements. Such a bionic aircraft, employed with gliding and fluttering functions, can effectively reduce energy consumption and can fly farther and longer On this basis, in the present study, a four-plate folding wing aircraft that mimics the beetle motion and simulates its gliding process was designed, aiming to improve the flight performance of the aircraft
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