Aerodynamic modeling of a 2-dimensional airfoil with a covert-inspired deployable flap using a discrete vortex method

Bio-inspired design;Vortex method;Unsteady aerodynamics

Waite, Josiah Mark ; Wissa ; Aimy A

关键词: Bio-inspired design;    Vortex method;    Unsteady aerodynamics;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/99122/WAITE-THESIS-2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Unmanned aerial vehicles are expected to fulfill increasingly complex mission requirements but are limited by their inability to efficiently perform high-angle-of-attack maneuvers at low Reynolds numbers, while birds seem to perform these maneuvers with little effort. Birds use a passively-deployed feather called the covert feather to correct for flow reversal over their wings during high-angle-of-attack maneuvers, thereby delaying the onset of stall. The overall research goal is to extend the understanding of the covert feather's role during flight in nature and learn from it to increase the mission adaptability and agility of engineered aerial vehicles during high-angle-of-attack maneuvers and during gust. This thesis presents experimental lift results that show the benefits of attaching a covert-inspired flap to the suction side of an airfoil. Results from a CFD solver are compared to the experimental results and show good agreement. Furthermore, this work reports on the development of a low-order discrete vortex model meant to predict the lift of an airfoil with a covert-inspired flap. Results show that the discrete vortex model is able to reproduce the experimental results for certain flap deflection angles.