Influence of Kinematics on Aerodynamic Characteristics of an Albatross-Like Flexible Flapping Wing in Forward Flight

Flapping wings have attracted much attention in recent years due to various merits. Many efforts have been made to study the kinematics and flexibility of flapping wings. However, the kinematics of flapping wing with bionic geometric shape and structural flexibility are still lacking in comprehensive exploration. In this paper, the aerodynamic characteristics and dynamic response of an albatross-like flapping wing undergoing different kinds of kinematics have been numerically explored. The results revealed the assocaition among flapping degree, pitching degree, phase difference, force coefficients and displacement response. Enlarging the flapping amplitude is beneficial to lift coefficient increasement, and introducing pitching is advantageous to drag coefficient declination. Compared with no phase difference between pitching and flapping, pitching phase lead can moderate lift coefficient changes in a smaller range with a good effect on retaining thrust, while phase lag may amplify that range at the cost of the drastically increasement of drag coefficient. The results provided a reference for the kinematic design of bird-like flapping wings from the perspectives of aerodynamic characteristics and dynamic response, and proposed a feasible method for the numerical simulation and analysis of bionic flexible flapping wings based on fluid-structure interaction.