Evaluating Surface Area Effects on Flapping Wing Aerodynamics with Analytical and Experimental Approaches

In this study, the effect of the wing surface area on the aerodynamic forces that affect the flapping wings were investigated experimentally and analytically. An analytical model based on the analytical calculation methods developed using the literature of Unsteady Blade Element Theory (UBET). An experimental setup consisting of a 6-axis load cell and a high-speed video camera is formed. For the experimental studies, a mechanism that converts the rotational motion from the motor to harmonic flapping motion was designed and prototyped for the production of wing flapping movement. In the mechanism, the wing has two degrees of freedom, namely stroke and pitch motion. While the stroke movement is actively formed by the motion of the actuator, the pitching motion is passively obtained by aerodynamic and inertial forces. Three separate wings having different surface areas with the same span and planform were tested for the investigation of surface area on aerodynamic forces using analytical tools and experiments.