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Aerodynamic analysis of bionic cylindrical rib-supporting wings in plunging and flapping motions

圆柱形肋支撑的薄翼在沉浮和挥拍运动中的空气动力响应

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Abstract

A simplified rectangular thin-wing model with a spanwise rib is proposed to investigate the influence of the front limb and fingers embedded in the bat membrane wing on aerodynamics. The leading edge rib-enhanced wing (LRW) and the middle rib-enhanced wing (MRW) have been studied numerically in two-dimensional plunging and three-dimensional flapping motions. It is found that the aerodynamic features of the plunging and flapping wings are similar, i.e., the spanwise cylindrical rib only affects the chordwise forces on the model wings and almost does not change the normal forces. In particular, the leading edge rib-supporting structure increases the thrust due to the large region of low pressure on the rib’s head when the wing moves in moderate or large amplitudes. When the rib is placed far away from the leading edge, the influence decreases rapidly. Furthermore, the effects of spanwise rib-enhanced wing are independent of Reynolds number when it is greater than 1000. The present study can assist in the design of rib-enhanced wings for bionic flapping-wing air vehicles.

摘要

本文提出了一种展向支撑肋的简化薄翼模型, 用以研究蝙蝠膜翼中前肢和手指对空气动力学的影响. 通过对肋增强的三维薄 翼做沉浮运动和挥拍运动的数值研究, 发现沉浮运动和挥拍运动产生的气动特性相似, 展向安置的圆柱形肋只影响模型翼的弦向力, 几乎不改变法向力. 当前缘肋支撑的薄翼做中等或大幅度运动时, 由于肋迎风面的大面积低压区域导致了推力的增加. 当肋远离前缘 放置时, 影响迅速减小. 在研究不同的来流条件后, 发现当雷诺数大于1000时, 展向肋对薄翼推力系数的增强与雷诺数无关. 本研究将 有助于仿生扑翼飞行器的薄翼的加强肋设计.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12172355 and 11672291), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. E1E42201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Biomechanics of Animal Locomotion, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bo-Wen Zhu  (朱博闻) & Yong-Liang Yu  (余永亮)

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  1. Bo-Wen Zhu  (朱博闻)
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  2. Yong-Liang Yu  (余永亮)
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Contributions

Bo-Wen Zhu: Formal analysis; Investigation; Validation (equal); Visualization; Writing–original draft; Writing–review & editing (equal). Yong-Liang Yu: Project administration; Resources; Supervision; Validation (equal); Writing–review & editing (equal).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong-Liang Yu  (余永亮).

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Zhu, BW., Yu, YL. Aerodynamic analysis of bionic cylindrical rib-supporting wings in plunging and flapping motions. Acta Mech. Sin. 39, 322495 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-023-22495-x

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