The flexibility effect of a plate according to various angles of attack in a free-stream

Abstract

This paper presents a computational fluid–structure interaction analysis for a flexible plate in a free-stream to investigate the effects of flexibility and angle of attack on force generation. A Lattice Boltzmann Method with an immersed boundary technique using a direct forcing scheme model of the fluid is coupled to a finite element model with rectangular bending elements. We investigated the effects of various angles of attack of a flexible plate fixed at one of the end edges in a free-stream at a Reynolds number of 5000, which represents the wing flapping condition of insects and small birds in nature. The lift of the flexible plate is maintained at the large angle of attack, whereas the rigid plate shows the largest lift at angles of attack around 30–40° and then drastic reductions in the lift at the large angle of attack. If we consider the efficiency as the lift divided by the drag, the flexible plate shows better efficiency at angles of attack greater than 30° compared to the rigid plate. The better performance of the flexible plate at large angles of attack comes from the deformation of the plate, which produces an interaction between the trailing edge vortex and the short edge vortex. The horseshoe-shaped vortex produced by a large vortex interaction at the trailing edge side has an important role in increasing the lift, and the small projection area due to the deformation reduces the drag. Furthermore, we investigate the role of flexibility on the lift and the drag force of the rectangular plate in a free-stream as the Reynolds number increases. Whenever a large vortex interaction at the trailing edge side is shown, the efficiency of the rectangular plate is improved. Especially, the flexible plate shows better efficiency as the Reynolds number increases regardless of the angle of attack.