Aerodynamics of

Flapping Flight
Kiran Ramesh
Applied Aerodynamics Lab - NCSU
Early Attempts at Flight
Aimed to mimic birds.
Used flapping wings
(Ornithopters)
Shown beside - Flapping
flyers developed around
the early 20th century
(Source : Wikipedia)
E.P.Frosts 1902 Ornithopter
Otto Lilienthals kleiner Schlagflgelapparat
(1894)
Reasons for Failure
Flapping wings -
Couldnt sustain
sufficient lift and
thrust.
Fixed-wing aircraft -
Independent lift and
thrust generation
Forces on an aircraft
Source : NASA
Learning from Nature
Large Birds
Large aspect ratio wings
Predominantly glide
Small Birds and Insects
Small aspect ratio wings
Flap more vigorously
with decreasing size
Source: natures-desktop-hd.com
Micro Air Vehicles
Reynolds number
between 10,000 and
10,0000
Wingspan < 15cm
Capabilities:
Handling gusts
Maneuverability
Landing, perching,
hovering
Existing MAVs
Wasp
(Aerovironment)
Micro Star
(Lockheed Martin)
Hummingbird
(Aerovironment)
Delfly
(TU Delft)
Microrobotic Fly
(Harvard)
Advantages of Flapping
Downwash by TE
vortices helps keep
boundary-layer attached
This prevents stall, high
AoA and
maneuverability are
possible
Lift + Thrust can be
generated
Typical unsteady flows
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Plunging motion
Small amplitude
Small LEV formation
Pitching motion
Large amplitude
Massively Separated flow
Challenges in using flapping
flyers
Unsteady aerodynamics not well
understood
Apparent-mass effects
Complicated wake structure
Leading edge vortices / Massive
separation
Thin-Airfoil Theory
Solves the problem of
airfoil at an angle of attack
Airfoil is approximated as
a camberline
Vorticity distribution taken
to be a Fourier series
aerospaceweb.org
www.desktop.aero/appliedaero
Solution
U - Freestream velocity, - chordwise
location
Fourier Series:

Boundary Conditions:
Kutta Condition
No normal flow through airfoil
Solution for symmetric airfoil :
(u) = 2U A
0
1+ cosu
sinu
+ A
n
sinnu

|
\

|
.
|
u
A
0
= o C
l
= 2tA
0
Unsteady Thin-Airfoil Theory
Built upon Katz and
Plotkins method.
Airfoil is free to move
arbitrarily in pitch and
plunge
Trailing edge vortex
shed at every time-
step
Fourier Series:

Same boundary conditions
Downwash on airfoil:

Velocity induced by wake:
(u,t) = 2U(t) A
0
(t)
1+ cosu
sinu
+ A
n
(t)sinnu
n=1

|
\

|
.
|
W(x,t) =
cq
cx
Ucoso +
&
hsino
( )
Usino & o(x ac) +
&
hcoso w
i
w
i
=
I
w
k
2t

x x
k
(x x
k
)
2
+ (z z
k
)
2
coso +
I
w
k
2t

z z
k
(x x
k
)
2
+ (z z
k
)
2
sino
Iteration to find the strength of shed
vortex
Fourier Coefficients:

Airfoils Bound Vorticity:

Kelvins condition: Total vorticity in Field
=0
A
n
(t) =
1
t
W(x,t)
U(t)
cosnu du
0
t
}
A
0
(t) =
1
t
W(x,t)
U(t)
du
0
t
}
I(t ) = U(t )ct A
0
(t ) +
A
1
(t )
2
|
\

|
.
|
I(t) + I
k
= 0

Solution obtained using

iteration (Such that
Kelvins condition is
satisfied)
Forces - Normal, Suction
J Exp Biol
December 2003
vol. 206 no. 23 4191-4208
C
N
= 2t coso +
&
h
U
sino
|
\

|
.
|
A
0
+
A
1
2
|
\

|
.
|
+
c
U
2
3U
4
&
A
0
+
U
4
&
A
1
+
U
8
&
A
2
|
\

|
.
|

(
C
S
= 2tA
0
2
Results
0-45-0 Pitch Ramp Hold
motion
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decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Lift Coefficient
Comparison
Predicting LEV formation
Leading Edge
Separation - Caused
by adverse pressure
gradient at the
leading edge
Velocity at the
leading edge is
directly related to
the suction peak
Leading Edge Suction Parameter
We define LESP as - Nondimensional
velocity at the leading edge.
For a thin airfoil:

LESP is derived as:

Hypothesis - For a given airfoil and
Reynolds number, LE separation occurs
at the same LESP
V
LE
(t ) =
1
2
lim
x>LE
(x, t ) x
LESP(t) = A
0
(t)
Example
Modeling LEVs using LESP
Discrete vortices shed from leading
edge when LESP > LESP
crit
Positions of vortices determined in
accordance with velocity at LE
Strengths of LEVs calculated such that
the LESP is brought back to LESP
crit
0-45-0 Pitch Ramp Hold
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0-25-0 Pitch Ramp Hold
0-90 Pitch-up motion
Sinusoidal Plunging motion
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Applications
Other applications of this research
include:
Rotorcraft aerodynamics
Wind turbines
Investigating possibility of larger
aircraft employing flapping wings
Questions?
Project Collaborators:
Jianghua Ke and Dr.Jack Edwards, NCSU (CFD)
Dr.Michael Ol and Dr.Kenneth Granlund, AFRL (EXP)

Thank you MAE GSA!