EFFECT OF ELASTICITY IN THE BIRD-LIKE PRIMARY FEATHER WING ON THE FLIGHT STABILITY

摘要

Birds in nature are capable of flying stably evenin a turbulent flow. The micro air vehicle (MAV),however, has a serious problem of susceptibilityto air turbulence although its size and weightare similar to those of birds. The primaryfeather in a bird wing can be a reason for theadvanced stability. In this research, focusing onthe elasticity in the primary feather of naturalbirds, the wind tunnel test was conducted for therigid and elastic primary feather wing modelsand the aerodynamic performance of them werecompared. In consequence, it was clarified thatno conspicuous difference of CL and CDcharacteristics was found between those models,but the elastic primary feather model had alarger slope of side force and rolling momentcoefficients with respect to the side slip anglethan the rigid primary feather model, thusindicating the large flight stability of elasticprimary feather wing in the lateral direction.