Numerical Investigations on Aerodynamic Forces of Deformable Foils in Hovering Motions

The aerodynamic effects of wing deformation for hover flight are numerically investigated by a two-dimensional finite-volume (FV) Arbitrary Langrangian Eulerian (ALE) Navier-Stokes solver. Two deformation models are employed to study these effects in this paper, which are a full deformation model and a partial deformation one. Attentions are paid to the generation and development of leading edge vortex (LEV) and trailing edge vortex (TEV) which may illustrate the differences of lift force generation mechanisms from those of rigid wings. Moreover, lift coefficient Cl, drag coefficient Cd, and figure of merit, as well as energy consumption in hovering motion for different deformation foil models, are also studied. The results show that the deformed amplitude, 0.1∗chord, among the cases simulated is an optimized camber amplitude for full deformation. The results obtained from the partial deformation foil model show that both Cl and Cd decrease with the increase of camber amplitude. It is found that the effect of deformation in the partial deformation model does not enhance lift force due to unfavorable camber. But TEV is significantly changed by the local AOA due to the deformation of the foil. Introduction.