CAREER: Investigation of Dynamic Interactions Between Wing-Body and Aerodynamics in Bio-Inspired Flight

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Biological flyers such as insects and birds represent an engineering marvel in terms of their natural maneuvering capabilities. These exhibited biological phenomena offer a scientifically-rich gold mine for problems. The astounding maneuvering performance exhibited by these flyers is a result of complex dynamic interaction that takes place between their flapping wings and the aerodynamics resulting from fluid flow over their bodies. Some insects have been observed to perform turning maneuvers of greater than 3000 deg/s, with less than a 30 ms delay. In normal everyday flight, some birds may experience up to 14 g accelerations in super-maneuverable tasks, while the maneuverability of the most advanced fighter airplanes cannot exceed 8-9 g. This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will focus on understanding the fundamental aspects and mechanisms of the dynamic interaction between the wing-body and fluid dynamics during flight. The results from the proposed research will enable engineers to design bio-inspired micro-air-vehicles without complicated sensory-control-actuator-processing systems by promoting self (natural) stabilization. The proposed research will boost the design capabilities of micro-air-vehicles and drones, which have great potential use in search and rescue missions, reconnaissance missions, filming, border monitoring, emergency response, etc. It is a multi-disciplinary work that bridges the gap between mathematics, physics, engineering, and biomechanics. The project will also lead to the development of new courses for students and interesting program that focuses on improving participation of minority students in STEM disciplines. The primary objective of this proposal is to investigate the interactions between the wing-body dynamics and unsteady flow dynamics in flapping flight with particular emphasis on the underpinning physics of the newly discovered vibrational stabilization phenomenon. This will be achieved by a three-prong approach: (i) Theoretical: by developing a reduced-order flight dynamic model and analyzing the aerodynamics-body-wing-dynamics interactions using geometric control theory and higher-order averaging; (ii) Computational: by solving Navier-Stokes equations around the wings of a flapping insect, coupled with the mechanical equations governing the wing and body motion to study the role of leading and trailing edge vortices in the vibrational stabilization phenomenon; and (iii) Experimental: by building a multi degree-of-freedom test bed (with motion capture and flow visualization) to validate the theoretical and computational findings and experimentally assess the effectiveness of vibrational stabilization in flapping flight and scrutinize its physics. Finally, a new generation of flapping micro-air-vehicles will be developed with minimal actuation, relying on the discovered vibrational stabilization phenomenon. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.