TITLE:
Stress Analysis of Membrane Flapping-Wing Aerial Vehicle Based on Different Material Models
AUTHORS:
Chunjin Yu, Daewon Kim, Yi Zhao
KEYWORDS:
Flapping-Wing, Aerial Vehicle, Membrane Wing, Stress Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics,
Vol.2 No.12,
November
25,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Recent studies of flapping-wing aerial
vehicles have been focused on the aerodynamic performance based on linear
materials. Little work has been done on structural analysis based on nonlinear
material models. A stress analysis is conducted in this study on membrane
flapping-wing aerial vehicles using finite element method based on three
material models, namely, linear elastic, Mooney-Rivlin non linear, and
composite material models. The purpose of this paper is to understand how
different types of materials affect the stresses of a flapping-wing. In the
finite element simulation, each flapping cycle is divided into twelve stages
and the maximum stress is calculated in each stage. The results show that 1)
there are two peak stress values in one flapping cycle; one at the beginning
stage of down stroke and the other at the beginning of upstroke, 2) maximum
stress at the beginning of down stroke is greater than that at the beginning of
upstroke, 3) maximum stress based on each material model is different. The
composite and the Mooney-Rivlin nonlinear models produce much less stresses
compared to the linear material model; and 4) the ratio of downstroke maximum
stress and upstroke maximum stress varies with different material models. This
research is helpful in answering why insect wings are so impeccable, thus
providing a possibility of improving the design of flapping-wing aerial vehicles.