Assignment # 2

RM-898

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
NUST (SMME), Pakistan

Submitted by:
• Hyder Mukhtar Saif Bukhari
• 453537
Submitted to:
Dr. Najam Ul Qadir
Title
Design of a bio-inspired Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle (FWMV)

Introduction:
The research proposal suggests the aerodynamic design of the bird-like main body of flapping-wing micro
air vehicle (FWMV) that can be used for a special operation in police and military. Very few FWMAV’s
are known to have bird-like main bodies and exact dimensions of those are still widely unavailable. It is
proposed that a bottom-up approach will be used for the development of the main body. Different
computational methods will be employed for the Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of the main body
of Flapping MAV and details of some the methods that are expected to be used are described below.

Methodologies:
CAD models of selected components will be developed followed by the CAD model of the main body
around the components. Next step will be to determine it’s the centre of gravity (c.g) position which is an
important parameter in the later design stages of complete FWMAV. Major components such as battery,
motor and camera will be selected from commercially available of-the-shelf components based on the
performance requirements. The biggest challenge is aerodynamic design of the main body, initial
investigation is done to determine the feasibility of using different CFD techniques for the aerodynamic
analysis and design.
The effect of the main body on the overall aerodynamics of Bird is significant. This effect is more in the
presence of wings [1]. As the bottom-up approach will be followed in the design process, it is necessary to
determine the aerodynamics of the main body before finalizing the wings. Flow over main body possesses
different challenges as it involves separation and re-attachments at multiple locations. The flow has the
potential to leak from the bottom of the main body [1]. Flow past the main body of FWMAV behaves
similar to flow past the bluff body. Generally, in previous works inhouse CFD code are used for this purpose
[1], [2]. These inhouse codes could capture flow physics involving flow separations and reattachments.
Different Turbulent models and schemes are radially available in commercially available CFD software
such as Ansys Fluent and Open FOAM. Historically, difficulties occur in predicting the accuracy of the
solution involving flow detachment and reattachments by using conventional steady-state models such as
Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulation(RANS) [3]. RANS models generally used for steady-state
simulations of turbulent flows. This is the most conventional approach used for industrial flows [4]. RANS
model has the advantage of requiring small computational power and provides simplified post-processing,
but for some flows, it limits the level of accuracy [4]. In the RANS models, k-ω SST provides more
approximate results. The k-ω SST was designed to overcome freestream sensitivity of the general k-ω
model. In fluent, k-ω SST is calibrated in a way so that it can predict the flow separations from smooth
surfaces precisely. It also uses enhanced wall function by default and widely used model for flows involving
aerodynamics. The k-ω SST also has a blending function which activates k-ω close to the wall and away
from the wall it acts as a transformed k-Ɛ model [5], [6].
Scale Resolving Simulations (SRS) provides a more accurate solution and can resolve large eddies. By
using SRS with small-time step more accurate solution at the expense of high computational cost and large
volumes of data [4]. Scale adaptive simulation (SAS) is an improved Unsteady Averaged Naiver-Stokes
Simulations (URANS) formulation which can be used for resolving the turbulent spectrum in unsteady
conditions. SAS model has a formulation which allows it to act as Large Eddy Simulation like behaviour
where the flow is unsteady. In the regions where the flow is stable SAS provide capabilities of standard
RANS [6], [7]
Conclusion:
Different computational fluid dynamics techniques are presented in the literature in-conjunction with the
applied nature. From the above discussion, it is concluded that k-ω SST and SAS model are best suitable
for the flow over the bluff bodies with flow separation and shall be used in future research for analysis of
the design.

References:
[1] B. Jialei Song, H. Luo, C. Oskay, R. Pitz, and D. Li, “Computational Modeling of Unsteady
Aerodynamics in Hummingbird Flight,” 2016.
[2] H. Aono, F. Liang, and H. Liu, “Near- and far-field aerodynamics in insect hovering flight: An
integrated computational study,” J. Exp. Biol., vol. 211, no. 2, pp. 239–257, 2008, doi:
10.1242/jeb.008649.
[3] M. Elkhoury, “Assessment of turbulence models for the simulation of turbulent flows past bluff
bodies,” J. Wind Eng. Ind. Aerodyn., vol. 154, pp. 10–20, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jweia.2016.03.011.
[4] P. Davoudabadi, “The Most Accurate and Advanced Turbulence Capabilities,” Present. Confid. by
Des. Work., pp. 1–39, 2012.
[5] F. R. Menter, “Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications,”
AIAA J., vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 1598–1605, May 1994, doi: 10.2514/3.12149.
[6] ANSYS Fluent Theory Guide, “ANSYS Fluent Theory Guide,” ANSYS Inc., USA, vol. 15317, no.
November, pp. 724–746, 2013.
[7] N. Haider, A. Shahzad, M. N. Mumtaz Qadri, and S. I. Ali Shah, “Recent progress in flapping
wings for micro aerial vehicle applications,” Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part C J. Mech. Eng. Sci., vol.
235, no. 2, pp. 245–264, 2021, doi: 10.1177/0954406220917426.