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In animal locomotion, either in fish or flying insects, the use of flexible terminal organs or appendages greatly improves the performance of locomotion (thrust and lift). In this article, we propose a general unified framework for modeling and simulating ...
Spacecraft employ composite materials as Thermal Protection Systems (TPS) to survive entering a planetary atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. Under intense convective and radiative heating from the surrounding shock layer, these composites decompose and erode ...
In this paper, we compare the characteristics of hovering stability for two insect-inspired flapping-wing micro air vehicles (FW-MAVs) with different strategies to generate control moments for the longitudinal and lateral attitude controls. The two robots ...
Elementary Motion Detectors (EMD) are well-established models of visual motion estimation in insects. The response of EMDs are tuned to specific temporal and spatial frequencies of the input stimuli, which matches the behavioural response of insects to wid ...
Omnidirectional MAVs are a growing field, with demonstrated advantages for aerial interaction and uninhibited observation. While systems with complete pose omnidirectionality and high hover efficiency have been developed independently, a robust system that ...
This work experimentally examines the phenomenon of leading-edge vortex (LEV) burst in a low aspect ratio rotating plate. Through stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) about chrodwise planes, the evolutionary track of the vortex is detailed from i ...
This work presents a wind tunnel experimental study on the effect of the leading edge flapping on the aerodynamic performance of a spinnaker. Four J80-class spinnaker models, combining two different assembling structures (panel layout) and two different sa ...
Dragonflies achieve agile maneuverability by flapping four wings independently. Different phase angles between the flapping forewing and hindwing have been observed during various flight modes. The aerodynamic performance depends on phase angle control, as ...
The aerodynamic designs of winged drones are optimized for specific flight regimes. Large lifting surfaces provide maneuverability and agility but result in larger power consumption, and thus lower range, when flying fast compared with small lifting surfac ...
Insect flight is characterised by complex time-dependent flows in response to the unsteady wing movements. Biological fliers exploit the unsteady flow fields to modulate aerodynamic forces, thereby displaying unmatched flight performance, especially in hov ...