Related papers: Dynamic aerodynamic-structural coupling numerical …
Compared with fixed-wing flight, flapping flight can generate a higher lift and is also more maneuverable, largely resulting from the benefits of wing rotation. By analyzing the real wing kinematics of fruit flies, we found that the wing…
Aerodynamic ground effect in flapping-wing insect flight is of importance to comparative morphologies and of interest to the micro-air-vehicle (MAV) community. Recent studies, however, show apparently contradictory results of either some…
Spatial single-loop mechanisms such as Bennett linkages offer a unique combination of one-degree-of-freedom actuation and nontrivial spatial trajectories, making them attractive for lightweight bio-inspired robotic design. However, although…
Bristled and membranous insect wings have co-evolved despite apparently serving the same functionality. We emulate flight physics using an automated free-fall experiment to better understand how and why several distinct wing forms may have…
A bio-inspired, passively deployable flap attached to an airfoil by a torsional spring of fixed stiffness can provide significant lift improvements at post-stall angles of attack. In this work, we describe a hybrid active-passive variant to…
The aerial environment in the operating domain of small-scale natural and artificial flapping wing fliers is highly complex, unsteady and generally turbulent. Considering flapping flight in an unsteady wind environment with a periodically…
We characterize the dynamical behavior of a clamped flexible fiber immersed in wall turbulence over a wide range of natural frequencies by means of direct numerical simulations. Only two flapping states are possible: one where the fiber…
This study presents a novel spatially disrupted flow control system inspired by the covert feathers on bird wings. The system is a passive flow control system consisting of multiple feather-inspired flaps that dynamically interact with the…
Flying animals, such as bats, fly through their fluidic environment as they create air jets and form wake structures downstream of their flight path. Bats, in particular, dynamically morph their highly flexible and dexterous armwing to…
Bird-sized flapping-wing robots offer significant potential for agile flight in complex environments, but achieving agile and robust trajectory tracking remains a challenge due to the complex aerodynamics and highly nonlinear dynamics…
Lightweight, single-use explosion containment structures provide an effective solution for neutralizing rogue explosives, combining affordability with ease of transport. This paper introduces a three-stage simulation framework that captures…
We develop a numerical method for simulating coupled interactions of complex floating structures with large-scale ocean waves and atmospheric turbulence. We employ an efficient large-scale model to develop offshore wind and wave…
We experimentally study the aeroelastic instability boundaries and three-dimensional vortex dynamics of pitching swept wings, with the sweep angle ranging from 0 to 25 degrees. The structural dynamics of the wings are simulated using a…
We investigate the hovering dynamics of rigid bodies with up-down asymmetry placed in oscillating background flows. Recent experiments on inanimate pyramid-shaped objects in oscillating flows with zero mean component demonstrate that the…
The concept of aerial-aquatic robots has emerged as an innovative solution that can operate both in the air and underwater. Previous research on the design of such robots has been mainly focused on mature technologies such as fixed-wing and…
The complex behavior of drop deposition on a hydrophobic surface is considered by looking at a model problem in which the evolution of a constant-volume liquid bridge is studied as the bridge is stretched. The bridge is pinned with a fixed…
To mimic the mechanical response of passive biological cilia in complex fluids, we study the bending dynamics of an anchored elastic fiber submitted to a dilute granular suspension under shear. We show that the bending fluctuations of the…
The numerical simulation of additive manufacturing techniques promises the acceleration of costly experimental procedures to identify suitable process parameters. We recently proposed Floating Isogeometric Analysis (FLIGA), a new…
Fluid dynamics, and flight in particular, is a domain where organisms challenge our understanding of its physics. Integrating the current knowledge of animal flight, we propose to revisit the use of live animals to study physical phenomena.…
Soft robots are known for their ability to perform tasks with great adaptability, enabled by their distributed, non-uniform stiffness and actuation. Bending is the most fundamental motion for soft robot design, but creating robust, and…