Effect of chordwise flexure profile on aerodynamic performance of a flexible flapping airfoil

摘要

Two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to assess the aerodynamic performance of various chordwise flexure profiles for an airfoil undergoing sinusoidal heaving with an oncoming free stream velocity. The aerodynamic power requirements are found to be relatively insensitive to flexure profile, while thrust generation is significantly affected and dependent primarily on the area 'swept' by the deflected chord line.