Optimal design of shape and motion parameters of a flapping wing

With the development of advanced materials and microelectronic technology, the design and manufacture of flapping wing aircraft has become a research topic of great concern in recent years. The bird-like shape makes it suitable for conversion investigation and monitoring. The best shape and motion can enhance the aerodynamic impact of flapping flight, according to research conducted both domestically and internationally. However, research on flapping wing design less considering the effect of fluid-structure interaction, and the influence of changing the shape of a flexible flapping wing on the aerodynamic characteristics has not been considered in the design stage. Moreover, the existing researches only involve single-factor analysis and lack the optimal design combining both wing shape and flapping motion. In this paper, an effective fluid-structure coupling framework is used to optimize the aerodynamics of a flexible flapping wing in forward flight at constant speed. The structural response is solved by the Newmark-β method, and its accuracy is verified compared with the calculation results of the ready-made software. The unsteady vortex lattice method (UVLM) is used to calculate the aerodynamic force. This research uses parallel computing to increase the effectiveness of the divide rectangle (DIRECT) global optimization technique since the complicated design space of the flapping wing includes several Local optimum states. The shape and motion parameters of a flexible flapping wing are iteratively optimized to determine a design scheme to maximize propulsion efficiency. The results of the rigid model are also compared. The results show that the optimal design of the shape and motion of a flexible flapping wing can obtain higher propulsion efficiency. It is improved by 5.6% compared to that of shape optimization and 27.0% compared to that of rigid model.