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Article

Role of Active Morphing in the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wings in Formation Flight

by
Ethan Billingsley
1,
Mehdi Ghommem
2,
Rui Vasconcellos
3 and
Abdessattar Abdelkefi
1,*
1
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates
3
Campus of São João da Boa Vista, São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo 01049-010, Brazil
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Drones 2021, 5(3), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5030090
Submission received: 2 August 2021 / Revised: 30 August 2021 / Accepted: 3 September 2021 / Published: 6 September 2021

Abstract

Migratory birds have the ability to save energy during flight by arranging themselves in a V-formation. This arrangement enables an increase in the overall efficiency of the group because the wake vortices shed by each of the birds provide additional lift and thrust to every member. Therefore, the aerodynamic advantages of such a flight arrangement can be exploited in the design process of micro air vehicles. One significant difference when comparing the anatomy of birds to the design of most micro air vehicles is that bird wings are not completely rigid. Birds have the ability to actively morph their wings during the flapping cycle. Given these aspects of avian flight, the objective of this work is to incorporate active bending and torsion into multiple pairs of flapping wings arranged in a V-formation and to investigate their aerodynamic behavior using the unsteady vortex lattice method. To do so, the first two bending and torsional mode shapes of a cantilever beam are considered and the aerodynamic characteristics of morphed wings for a range of V-formation angles, while changing the group size in order to determine the optimal configuration that results in maximum propulsive efficiency, are examined. The aerodynamic simulator incorporating the prescribed morphing is qualitatively verified using experimental data taken from trained kestrel flights. The simulation results demonstrate that coupled bending and twisting of the first mode shape yields the highest propulsive efficiency over a range of formation angles. Furthermore, the optimal configuration in terms of propulsive efficiency is found to be a five-body V-formation incorporating coupled bending and twisting of the first mode at a formation angle of 140 degrees. These results indicate the potential improvement in the aerodynamic performance of the formation flight when introducing active morphing and bioinspiration.
Keywords: flapping wings; formation flight; active morphing; aerodynamic performance; V-shape arrangement flapping wings; formation flight; active morphing; aerodynamic performance; V-shape arrangement

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Billingsley, E.; Ghommem, M.; Vasconcellos, R.; Abdelkefi, A. Role of Active Morphing in the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wings in Formation Flight. Drones 2021, 5, 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5030090

AMA Style

Billingsley E, Ghommem M, Vasconcellos R, Abdelkefi A. Role of Active Morphing in the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wings in Formation Flight. Drones. 2021; 5(3):90. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5030090

Chicago/Turabian Style

Billingsley, Ethan, Mehdi Ghommem, Rui Vasconcellos, and Abdessattar Abdelkefi. 2021. "Role of Active Morphing in the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wings in Formation Flight" Drones 5, no. 3: 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5030090

APA Style

Billingsley, E., Ghommem, M., Vasconcellos, R., & Abdelkefi, A. (2021). Role of Active Morphing in the Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wings in Formation Flight. Drones, 5(3), 90. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5030090

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