Investigating the Power Extraction of Applying Hybrid Pitching Motion on a Wing with Leading and Trailing Flaps

This research utilized a hybrid trajectory on a wing incorporating a dual flap with the goal of enhancing performance. The hybrid profiles initiate with a non-sinusoidal pattern during the interval 0.0 ≤ t/T ≤ 0.25, evolving toward a sinusoidal pattern within the range 0.25 < t/T ≤ 0.5. Similarly, the hybrid motion follows a non-sinusoidal pattern in the range 0.5 < t/T ≤ 0.75, before shifting back to a sinusoidal pattern within the range 0.75 < t/T ≤ 1.0. The effectiveness of using a hybrid trajectory on a wing with leading and trailing flaps in enhancing the energy harvesting performance is examined through numerical simulations. The results demonstrate that hybrid trajectories applied to a two-flap wing configuration outperform a single flat plate and a wing with leading and trailing flaps both operating under a sinusoidal trajectory. The wing length spans from 45% to 55%, with the leading flap length ranging from 25% to 35%. The trailing flap lengths adjust accordingly to ensure the combined total matches the flat plate’s full length, which is 100%. The wing pitch angle was fixed at 85° while the leading flap’s pitch angle varied between 40° and 55° and the pitch angle of the trailing flap ranged from 0° to 20°. The findings reveal that utilizing hybrid motion on a wing fitted with leading and trailing flaps notably improves power output in comparison to configurations with either one plate or three plates. The power output is achieved at particular dimensions: a leading flap length of 30%, a wing length of 55%, and a trailing flap length of 15%. The corresponding pitch angles are 50° for the leading flap, 85° for the wing, and 10° for the trailing flap. The aforementioned configuration results in a 34.06% increase in output power in comparison to one plate. The maximum efficiency for this setup reaches 44.21%. This underscores the superior performance of hybrid trajectories over sinusoidal trajectories in enhancing energy extraction performance.