Stroke plane angle controls leading edge vortex in a bat-inspired flapper

Gide Koekkoek; Florian T. Muijres; L. Christoffer Johansson; Melanie Stuiver; Bas W. van Oudheusden; Anders Hedenström

doi:10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.013

Stroke plane angle controls leading edge vortex in a bat-inspired flapper

Gide Koekkoek ^1,²; Florian T. Muijres ¹; L. Christoffer Johansson ¹; Melanie Stuiver ^1,²; Bas W. van Oudheusden ²; Anders Hedenström ¹

¹ Lund University, Department of Biology, Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
² Delft University of Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering, P.O. Box 5058, 2600 GB Delft, The Netherlands

Comptes Rendus. Mécanique, Biomimetic flow control, Volume 340 (2012) no. 1-2, pp. 95-106.

Abstract

The present interest in micro air vehicles has given the research on bat flight a new impulse. With the use of high speed cameras and improved PIV techniques, the kinematics and aerodynamics of bats have been studied in great detail. A robotic flapper makes it possible to do measurements by systematically changing only one parameter at a time and investigate the parameter space outside the natural flight envelope of bats without risking animal safety. For this study, a robotic flapper (RoBat), inspired by Leptonycteris yerbabuenae was developed and tested over the speed range 1–7 m/s, with variable maximum angles of attacks ( ${AoA}_{\max} = 55 °$ and 15°, respectively) and constant ${AoA}_{\max} = 55 °$ . These measurements show the presence of a leading edge vortex (LEV) for low speeds and a fully attached flow for high speeds at low ${AoA}_{\max}$ , which is in line with natural bat flight. A LEV occurs for ${AoA}_{\max} = 55 °$ throughout the complete flight speed range, and throughout which the LEV circulation coefficient remains rather constant. This implies that bats and micro air vehicles could use LEVs for high load maneuvers also at relatively high flight speeds. However, at high flight speeds the LEV bursts, which causes increased drag, most likely due to a decrease in Strouhal number.

Supplementary Materials:
Supplementary materials for this article are supplied as separate files:

Published online: 2012-01-01

DOI: 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.013

Mots-clés : Aerodynamics, Bat flight, Bio-inspired robot, Leading edge vortex, Micro air vehicle

Author's affiliations:

Gide Koekkoek ^{1, 2}; Florian T. Muijres ¹; L. Christoffer Johansson ¹; Melanie Stuiver ^{1, 2}; Bas W. van Oudheusden ²; Anders Hedenström ¹

¹ Lund University, Department of Biology, Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden
² Delft University of Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering, P.O. Box 5058, 2600 GB Delft, The Netherlands

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     author = {Gide Koekkoek and Florian T. Muijres and L. Christoffer Johansson and Melanie Stuiver and Bas W. van Oudheusden and Anders Hedenstr\"om},
     title = {Stroke plane angle controls leading edge vortex in a bat-inspired flapper},
     journal = {Comptes Rendus. M\'ecanique},
     pages = {95--106},
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Gide Koekkoek; Florian T. Muijres; L. Christoffer Johansson; Melanie Stuiver; Bas W. van Oudheusden; Anders Hedenström. Stroke plane angle controls leading edge vortex in a bat-inspired flapper. Comptes Rendus. Mécanique, Biomimetic flow control, Volume 340 (2012) no. 1-2, pp. 95-106. doi : 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.013. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mecanique/articles/10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.013/

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