EQUIPMENT FOR DETERMINING AERODYNAMIC FORCES ON FLAPPING WINGS

Dan Mihai Stefanescu, Valentin Butoescu

Abstract

Present work is devoted to the experimental determination of the non-steady aerodynamic forces acting on the flapping wings of the micro air vehicles (MAVs). At the National Institute for Aerospace Research from Bucharest, Romania, a multidisciplinary collective of scientists performed both theoretical and experimental research on flapping flight. In this work we present some aspects concerning the force measurement procedure in the range of small forces. The moment components given by the forces acting in two directions (perpendicular and parallel to the wing plane) are tensometrically measured while the flapping and pitching angles are determined using two precision potentiometers. All signals are transmitted to computer via a multifunction DAQ National Instruments PCI-6221, Windows compatible. LabVIEW SignalExpress LE together with NI-DAQmx can gather, register, export and visualize experimental data. The analysis includes the extraction of the inertial forces which are the predominant ones, making possible the accurate determination of the aerodynamic forces on the flapping wings.

Keywords

flapping wings, aerodynamic forces, piezo-resistive strain gauges

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IMEKO-WC-2009-TC3-470.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC3 - Measurement of Force, Mass, Torque, and Gravity

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