On the Aerodynamic Analysis and Conceptual Design of Bioinspired Multi-Flapping-Wing Drones

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:42:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-09-01 New Mexico State University Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) National Science Foundation National Cancer Institute Many research studies have investigated the characteristics of bird flights as a source of bioinspiration for the design of flapping-wing micro air vehicles. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no drone design targeted the exploitation of the aerodynamic benefits associated with avian group formation flight. Therefore, in this work, a conceptual design of a novel multi-flappingwing drone that incorporates multiple pairs of wings arranged in a V-shape is proposed in order to simultaneously increase the propulsive efficiency and achieve superior performance. First, a mission plan is established, and a weight estimation is conducted for both 3-member and 5-member configurations of the proposed air vehicle. Several wing shapes and airfoils are considered, and aerodynamic simulations are conducted, to determine the optimal planform, airfoil, formation angle, and angle of attack. The simulation results reveal that the proposed bioinspired design can achieve a propulsive efficiency of 73.8%. A stability analysis and tail sizing procedure are performed for both 3-member and 5-member configurations. In addition, multiple flapping mechanisms are inspected for implementation in the proposed designs. Finally, the completed prototypes’ models of the proposed multi-flapping-wing air vehicles are presented, and their features are discussed. The aim of this research is to provide a framework for the conceptual design of bioinspired multi-flapping-wing drones and to demonstrate the sizing, weight estimation, and design procedures for this new type of air vehicles. This work establishes the first multi-flapping-wing drone design which exploits the aerodynamic features of the V-formation flight observed in birds to achieve superior performance in terms of payload and endurance. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering New Mexico State University Department of Mechanical Engineering American University of Sharjah São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus of São João da Boa Vista São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus of São João da Boa Vista CAPES: 88881.302889/2018-01 National Science Foundation: OAC-2019000 National Cancer Institute: U54 CA132383