Aerodynamics and dynamic stability of micro-air-vehicle with four flapping wings in hovering flight

Abstract Recently, a novel concept of flapping Micro-Air-Vehicles (FMAVs) with four wings has been proposed, which potentially utilizes the clap-and-fling effect for lift enhancement and agile maneuvers through an adjustment of wing kinematics. However, the application of the clap-and-fling effect in the four-winged FMAVs is underexplored and the dynamic stability is still unclear. In this paper, aerodynamics and flight dynamic stability of the four-winged FMAVs are studied experimentally and numerically. Results show that the clap-and-fling effect is observed when the flapping frequency is above 18 Hz. Due to the clap-and-fling effect, the lift generation and aerodynamic efficiency are both improved, which is mainly attributed to the fling phase. Further studies show that the clap-and-fling effect becomes weaker as the wing root spacing increases and is almost absent at a wing root spacing of 1.73 chord length. In addition, a wing with an aspect ratio of 3 can increase both lift generation and efficiency due to the clap-and-fling effect. Finally, according to the dynamic stability analysis of the four-winged FMAV, the divergence speed of the lateral oscillation mode is about 4 times faster than that of the longitudinal oscillation mode. Our results can provide guidance on the design and control of four-winged FMAVs.