Aerodynamics of Low Reynolds Number Flyers

The primary focus of this book is the aerodynamics associated with fixed and flapping wings.

Wei Shyy (Author), Yongsheng Lian (Author), Jian Tang (Author), Dragos Viieru (Author), Hao Liu (Author)

9780521204019, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 April 2011

212 pages
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.1 cm, 0.38 kg

"The authors of this book, active pioneers of this new field, have assembled the first comprehensive treatment of the major new aerodynamic aspects pertaining to MAVs...It is well written and illustrated with 29 color and 130 black and white figures. It also has a quite comprehensive reference list. Therefore, it should be of value to scientists and engineers who wish to familiarize themselves with the aerodynamics of birds, insects, and micro air vehicles. In addition, students and anyone else who wishes to learn about the intricacies of aerodynamic lift and thrust generation will bene!t from reading parts of this book."
Max F. Platzer, AIAA Journal

Low Reynolds number aerodynamics is important to a number of natural and man-made flyers. Birds, bats, and insects have been of interest to biologists for years, and active study in the aerospace engineering community, motivated by interest in micro air vehicles (MAVs), has been increasing rapidly. The focus of this book is the aerodynamics associated with fixed and flapping wings. The book considers both biological flyers and MAVs, including a summary of the scaling laws which relate the aerodynamics and flight characteristics to a flyer's sizing on the basis of simple geometric and dynamics analyses, structural flexibility, laminar-turbulent transition, airfoil shapes, and unsteady flapping wing aerodynamics. The interplay between flapping kinematics and key dimensionless parameters such as the Reynolds number, Strouhal number, and reduced frequency is highlighted. The various unsteady lift enhancement mechanisms are also addressed.

1. Introduction
2. Fixed, rigid wing aerodynamics
3. Flexible wing aerodynamics
4. Flapping wing aerodynamics.

Subject Areas: Aerospace & aviation technology [TRP], Mechanical engineering [TGB]