The mechanism of aerodynamic performance enhancement of flapping wings with spanwise active deformation

The single stiffness makes the micro-air vehicles (MAVs) only to show excellent flight performance in a specific flow field environment. The MAVs should have the ability to actively deform to adapt to different application scenarios. This study investigates the effects of spanwise active deformation amplitude ( ψ max ), phase difference ( φ P ), and Strouhal number (St) on the aerodynamic loads and vortex of a wing through numerical simulations. Under the condition of Re = 1000, numerical simulations were conducted on a rectangular wing with an aspect ratio of 4 during the flapping process. The study reveals that moderate spanwise deformation can increase the thrust of the wing and improve propulsion efficiency ( η P ). Within the study's scope, the thrust coefficient increases monotonically and linearly with the deformation, but the propulsion efficiency improves only within a limited parameter range. By observing the vortex under different spanwise deformations and monitoring the forces at different positions of the wing, it was found that active deformation can enhance the strength of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) and the wingtip vortex (TV), thereby enhancing the generation of thrust. The results also indicate that the enhancement of LEV is achieved through the coupling between LEV and secondary vortex. At different Strouhal numbers, improvements in η P can only be achieved through the combined effects of increased vortex strength and optimal vortex residence time. Additionally, it was observed that at lower St, TV can switch from contributing thrust to causing drag.