Control Method for Butterfly-Inspired Flapping-Wing Aircraft Using Fluid Dynamics Theory

Conventional aircraft encounter aerodynamic limitations at small scales and low Reynolds numbers, restricting the coordination of factors such as lift and thrust generation, flapping motion patterns, and flapping frequencies in butterfly-inspired flapping-wing aircraft. Additionally, accurate analysis of their aerodynamic forces is challenging, leading to poor control accuracy and real-time performance for these aircraft. To address these issues, a control method for butterfly-inspired flapping-wing aircraft using fluid dynamics theory is proposed. The main governing equations of fluid dynamics for the butterfly-inspired flapping-wing aircraft are established using computational fluid dynamics methods. The forced vibration method is employed to solve for the aircraft's dynamic derivatives, and a PID control approach is used to design the control law. By integrating structured overlapping grid technology, a closed-loop PID controller, and rudder deflection control law, effective control of the aircraft's attitude is achieved. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method offers high control accuracy and efficiency for the butterfly-inspired flapping-wing aircraft, ensuring real-time control of the aircraft's motion attitude by the base station host.