TY - JOUR
T1 - Numerical study on the flow characteristics of micro air vehicle wings at low Reynolds numbers
AU - Xiao, Tianhang
AU - Li, Zhengzhou
AU - Deng, Shuanghou
AU - Ang, Haisong
AU - Zhou, Xinchun
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The aerodynamic characteristics around a micro air vehicle wing with an inverse-Zimmerman configuration are numerically investigated by an in-house programmed solver particularly dedicated for aircrafts operating in low Reynolds number regime. The complex three-dimensional aerodynamic performance was investigated in terms of force generation and flow structures visualization. Results show that the flow around the low aspect ratio MAV wing is characterized by complex three-dimensional separation-dominated flow. The flow fields exhibit separation, reattachment, secondary separation, secondary reattachment, and strong interaction between the separated boundary layer and wingtip vortices. In addition, the effect of tip-attached vertical stabilizers on flow structure and aerodynamic forces is addressed in this paper. The stabilizers significantly influence both the flow structure and aerodynamic forces via reducing the strength of wingtip vortices and shedding and interacting of wingtip vortices. Eventually, the unsteadiness of the aerodynamics revealed that higher angle of attack will result in stronger unsteady phenomena as demonstrated by the oscillating forces.
AB - The aerodynamic characteristics around a micro air vehicle wing with an inverse-Zimmerman configuration are numerically investigated by an in-house programmed solver particularly dedicated for aircrafts operating in low Reynolds number regime. The complex three-dimensional aerodynamic performance was investigated in terms of force generation and flow structures visualization. Results show that the flow around the low aspect ratio MAV wing is characterized by complex three-dimensional separation-dominated flow. The flow fields exhibit separation, reattachment, secondary separation, secondary reattachment, and strong interaction between the separated boundary layer and wingtip vortices. In addition, the effect of tip-attached vertical stabilizers on flow structure and aerodynamic forces is addressed in this paper. The stabilizers significantly influence both the flow structure and aerodynamic forces via reducing the strength of wingtip vortices and shedding and interacting of wingtip vortices. Eventually, the unsteadiness of the aerodynamics revealed that higher angle of attack will result in stronger unsteady phenomena as demonstrated by the oscillating forces.
KW - Low aspect ratio
KW - Low Reynolds number aerodynamics
KW - Micro air vehicle
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Wingtip vortex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976385295&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:aac7ef70-8959-4b0a-a5c6-e9ad805a1f91
U2 - 10.1177/1756829316638204
DO - 10.1177/1756829316638204
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84976385295
SN - 1756-8293
VL - 8
SP - 29
EP - 40
JO - International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles
JF - International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles
IS - 1
ER -