Aerodynamic Characteristics, Power Requirements and Camber Effects of the Pitching-Down Flapping Hovering

摘要

The pitching-down flapping is a new type of bionic flapping,which was invented by the author based on previous studieson the aerodynamic mechanisms of fruit fly(pitching-up)flapping.The motivation of this invention is to improve the aerodynamiccharacteristics of flapping Micro Air Vehicles(MAVs).In this paper the pitching-down flapping is briefly introduced.Themajor works include:(1)Computing the power requirements of pitching-down flapping in three modes(advanced,symmetrical,delayed),which were compared with those of pitching-up flapping;(2)Investigating the effects of translational accelerationtime,Δτ_t,and rotational time,Δτ_r,at the end of a stroke,and the angle of attack,α,in the middle of a stroke on the aerodynamiccharacteristics in symmetrical mode;(3)Investigating the effect of camber on pitching-down flapping.From the above works,conclusions can be drawn that:(1)Compared with the pitching-up flapping,the pitching-down flapping can greatly reduce thetime-averaged power requirements;(2)The increase in Δτt and the decrease in Δτ_r can increase both the lift and drag coefficients,but the time-averaged ratio of lift to drag changes a little.And α has significant effect on the aerodynamic characteristicsof the pitching-down flapping;(3)The positive camber can effectively increase the lift coefficient and the ratio of lift to drag.