Related papers: Using Drag to Hover
Interactional aerodynamics of a quadcopter in hover is numerically investigated in this study. The main objective is to understand major flow structures associated with unsteady airloads on multirotor aircraft. The overset mesh approach is…
The logarithmic spiral is observed as a common pattern in several living beings across kingdoms and species. Some examples include fern shoots, prehensile tails, and soft limbs like octopus arms and elephant trunks. In the latter cases,…
Long arrays of identical, self-propelling flapping flyers are inherently unstable and thus unlikely to exist without active control mechanisms. One approach to enable long in-line formations is to enforce a constant separation between the…
Avian-informed drones feature morphing wing and tail surfaces, enhancing agility and adaptability in flight. Despite their large potential, realising their full capabilities remains challenging due to the lack of generalized control…
In this letter, we reveal a universal, very simple extremum seeking natural feedback law and mechanism that governs, adapts, and generates in real-time, optimized lift variations for successful energy gain flight in presence of wind shear.…
Minimising the energy consumption associated with periodic motion is a priority common to a wide range of technologies and organisms - among them, many species of flying insect, for which flapping-wing flight is a life-essential mode of…
Flow control for turbulent skin-friction drag reduction is applied to a transonic airfoil to improve its aerodynamic performance. The study is based on direct numerical simulations (with up to 1.8 billions cells) of the compressible…
We investigate the occupancy statistics of birds on a wire and on higher-dimensional substrates. In one dimension, birds land one by one on a wire and rest where they land. Whenever a newly arriving bird lands within a fixed distance of…
The drag of two cylindrical intruders in a two-dimensional granular environment is numerically studied by the discrete element method. We find the yield force, below which the intruders cannot move because of interactions with the…
Collisions with raindrops are one of many obstacles insects face during flight. In this fluid dynamics video, we present a series of high-speed films of impacts between mosquitoes and raindrops. We also present drop impacts upon insect…
Remote monitoring of drones has become a global objective due to emerging applications in national security and managing aerial delivery traffic. Despite their relatively small size, drones can carry significant payloads, which require…
From ancient times, humans have been using cables and ropes to tie, carry, and manipulate objects by folding knots. However, automating knot folding is challenging because it requires dexterity to move a cable over and under itself. In this…
Thermal soaring enables birds to perform cost-efficient flights during foraging or migration trips. Yet, although all soaring birds exploit vertical winds effectively, this group contains species that vary strongly in their morphologies.…
Flying drones can be used in a wide range of applications and services from surveillance to package delivery. To ensure robust control and safety of drone operations, cellular networks need to provide reliable wireless connectivity to drone…
Microorganisms such as algae and bacteria move in a viscous environment with extremely low Reynolds ($Re$), where the viscous drag dominates the inertial forces. They have adapted to this environment by developing specialized features such…
Aeroelastic structures, from insect wings to wind turbine blades, experience transient unsteady aerodynamic loads that are coupled to their motion. Effective real-time control of flexible structures relies on accurate and efficient…
Utilizing wind hovering techniques of soaring birds can save energy expenditure and improve the flight endurance of micro air vehicles (MAVs). Here, we present a novel method for fully autonomous orographic soaring without a priori…
This paper describes experimental methods for free flight measurement of drag coefficients to an accuracy of approximately 1%. There are two main methods of determining free flight drag coefficients, or equivalent ballistic coefficients: 1)…
The problem of realizing rotary propeller motion of a devil-stick in the vertical plane using forces purely normal to the stick is considered. This problem represents a nonprehensile manipulation task of an underactuated system. In contrast…
A novel quadcopter capable of changing shape mid-flight is presented, allowing for operation in four configurations with the capability of sustained hover in three. This is accomplished without requiring actuators beyond the four motors…