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Assistant professor Samik Bhattacharya is studying the phenomenon at the University of Central Florida, in an attempt to engineer solutions for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and micro air vehicles (MAVs).
In those smaller types of aircraft, the turbulence arising from sudden disturbance in airflow is “more than a bumpy ride”, a research announcement said. It can severely affect stability, causing them to lose control.
Birds are adept at handling turbulence, however, and can retain control during airflow disturbances.
“Birds have perfected the art of unsteady flow control through millions of years of evolution,” said Bhattacharya. “They don’t use any separate flaps or slats; rather, they morph their wings and use their feathers to achieve similar feats. However, we don’t know how to utilise similar morphing capabilities in manmade flight vehicles.”
To study these morphing capabilities, Bhattacharya and his team of researchers in the university’s Experimental Fluid Mechanics Lab (EFML) have 3D printed a set of wings made of black agilus plastic. The rubber-like material is very flexible, so the 3D model can be morphed along the wingspan to mimic the collapsible structure of real bird wings.
The team will test the wings’ morphing capabilities in high turbulence using a state-of-the-art gust generator system, funded by a three-year $441,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
The system will be integrated with a towing tank already operating in the EFML lab. The wings will be placed in the tank with a sensor that can measure the lift and drag forces, and the flow field will also be captured using high-speed cameras.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.