Abstract
The wind tunnel experiment is conducted on a simplified aircraft model with rigid and two kinds of elastic wings to investigate the effect of wing 3-D deformation on the aircraft aerodynamic performance. The results show that two elastic wings exhibit different aerodynamic performances, which are classified as the lift-enhancement wing and the drag-reduction wing. For the lift-enhancement wing, the stall angle is delayed from 8° to 15° with a corresponding lift increment of 64.3% compared with the rigid wing. It is shown that the lift enhancement of the aircraft model is accompanied by the torsional vibration mode of the wing, which results in the significant improvement of wing circulation. For the drag-reduction wing, the aerodynamic performance is dominated by the time-averaged deformation, which couples the bending and twisting. The wing twist reduces the effective angle of attack, as well as the frontal area, and contributes to the decreased wake deficit. Meantime, the bent wings function as barriers to the cross flow resulting in a reduction of lift-induced drag. As a result, the drag coefficient is reduced from 0.115 to 0.098 with a reduction of 14.8% at angle of attack of 12°.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Shyy W, Ifju P, Viieru D. Membrane wing-based micro air vehicles. Appl Mech Rev, 2005, 58: 283–301
Taylor G, Wang Z, Vardaki E, et al. Lift enhancement over flexible nonslender delta wings. AIAA J, 2007, 45: 2979–2993
Fu J, Liu X, Shyy W, et al. Effects of flexibility and aspect ratio on the aerodynamic performance of flapping wings. Bioinspir Biomim, 2018, 13: 036001
Tiomkin S, Raveh D E. A review of membrane-wing aeroelasticity. Prog Aerospace Sci, 2021, 126: 100738
Anderson J D. Aircraft Performances and Design. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 1996. 18–19
Song A, Tian X, Israeli E, et al. Aeromechanics of membrane wings with implications for animal flight. AIAA J, 2008, 46: 2096–2106
Rojratsirikul P, Wang Z, Gursul I. Unsteady fluid-structure interactions of membrane airfoils at low Reynolds numbers. Exp Fluids, 2009, 46: 859–872
Bleischwitz R, de Kat R, Ganapathisubramani B. On the fluid-structure interaction of flexible membrane wings for MAVs in and out of ground-effect. J Fluids Struct, 2017, 70: 214–234
He X, Wang J J. Fluid—structure interaction of a flexible membrane wing at a fixed angle of attack. Phys Fluids, 2020, 32: 127102
Béguin B, Breitsamter C, Adams N A. Aerodynamic investigations of a morphing membrane wing. AIAA J, 2012, 50: 2588–2599
Guo Q, He X, Wang Z, et al. Effects of wing flexibility on aerodynamic performance of an aircraft model. Chin J Aeronautics, 2021, 34: 133–142
Pflüger J, Breitsamter C. Experimental investigations of a full model with adaptive elasto-flexible membrane wing. Chin J Aeronaut, 2021, 34: 211–218
Masoud H, Alexeev A. Resonance of flexible flapping wings at low Reynolds number. Phys Rev E, 2010, 81: 1–5
Dai H, Luo H, Doyle J F. Dynamic pitching of an elastic rectangular wing in hovering motion. J Fluid Mech, 2012, 693: 473–499
Ramananarivo S, Godoy-Diana R, Thiria B. Rather than resonance, flapping wing flyers may play on aerodynamics to improve performance. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2011, 108: 5964–5969
Cleaver D J, Calderon D, Wang Z, et al. Low aspect ratio oscillating flexible wings at low Reynolds numbers. In: 43rd Fluid Dynamics Conference. San Diego, California, 2013. AIAA-2013-3178
Gursul I, Cleaver D J, Wang Z. Control of low Reynolds number flows by means of fluid-structure interactions. Prog Aerospace Sci, 2014, 64: 17–55
Taylor G, Kroker A, Gursul I. Passive flow control over flexible nonslender delta wings. In: 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit. Reno, Nevada, 2005. AIAA-2005-0865
Wang J J, Wu K. Experimental investigations of the effect of wing elastic deformations on aerodynamics. Acta Aerodynamica Sinica, 2007, 25: 55–59
Feng S Y, Guo Q F, Wang J J, et al. Influence of membrane wing active deformation on the aerodynamic performance of an aircraft model. Sci China Tech Sci, 2022, 65: 2474–2484
Zhan J X, Wang J J. The effect of leading-edge sweep angle asymmetry on lateral aerodynamics. Sci China Ser E-Technol Sci, 2009, 52: 2445–2448
Zhan J X. Experimental investigation on the aerodynamic performance and mechanism of MAV configurations based on common swift. Dissertation for the Doctoral Degree. Beijing: Beihang University, 2007
Gorlin S M, Slezinger I I. Aerodynamic Measurements: Methods and Instrumentation. Moscow: Nauka, 1964. 36
Chen T Y, Liou L R. Blockage corrections in wind tunnel tests of small horizontal-axis wind turbines. Exp Thermal Fluid Sci, 2011, 35: 565–569
Takeda M, Mutoh K. Fourier transform profilometry for the automatic measurement of 3-D object shapes. Appl Opt, 1983, 22: 3977–3982
Champagnat F, Plyer A, Le Besnerais G, et al. Fast and accurate PIV computation using highly parallel iterative correlation maximization. Exp Fluids, 2011, 50: 1169–1182
Pan C, Xue D, Xu Y, et al. Evaluating the accuracy performance of Lucas-Kanade algorithm in the circumstance of PIV application. Sci China-Phys Mech Astron, 2015, 58: 1–16
Lee T, Su Y Y. Wingtip vortex control via the use of a reverse half-delta wing. Exp Fluids, 2012, 52: 1593–1609
Shi X D, Feng L H. Control of flow around a circular cylinder by bleed near the separation points. Exp Fluids, 2015, 56: 1–17
Maskell E C. Progress towards a method for the measurement of the components of the drag of a wing of finite span. RAE Technical Report 72232. 1972
Kusunose K, Crowder J P. Physical properties of Maskell’s induced drag integral. In: 39th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit. Reno, Nevada, 2001. AIAA-2001-0421
Brune G W. Quantitative low-speed wake surveys. J Aircraft, 1994, 31: 249–255
Kusunose K. Development of a universal wake survey data analysis code. In: 15th Applied Aerodynamics Conference. Atlanta, Georgia, 1997. AIAA-97-2294
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12127802 and 11721202) and the Academic Excellence Foundation of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) for PhD Students.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guo, Q., Feng, S. & Wang, J. Effects of 3-D deformation of elastic wings on aerodynamic performance of an aircraft model. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 66, 1365–1377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2323-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-022-2323-x