Flight Performance Estimation of Bionic Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Abstract

Bionic flapping-wing micro air vehicle(MAV) has received worldwide attention.The flight performance calculation is an important step in the conceptual design.The differences in performance estimation methods between the flapping-wing and conventional fixed-wing aircraft are analyzed.Based on the results of the aerodynamic estimation and wind tunnel experimental measurement, the flight performance estimation method of flapping-wing micro air vehicle is proposed, and the performance of level flight, climbing, and duration are calculated and analyzed.The frequency represents the accelerator in a certain extent, while the frequency is coupled with lift and thrust.The results show that there may be two stable cruising states at certain frequencies, one is the small angle of attack with high speed, the other is the small speed with big angle of attack, and the two states have different power consumption.According to the parameters of the vehicle, climbing performance and duration performance can be obtained.The speed versus power characteristic curve is a U shape, minimum slope of the U curve can be obtained through the mapping method to calculate the farthest flight speed, and the minimum velocity of U-shaped curve is the speed for longest duration.The proposed flight performance calculation method can be used to evaluate the flight capability of bionic micro flapping-wing air vehicle.