Aerodynamics of flapping-wing Micro-Air-Vehicle: An integrated experimental and numerical study

The interest in Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) has stimulated continuous research activities, in view of their potential in civilian and military applications. An autonomous MAV with dedicated onboard sensors would be capable of executing mission in closed environments, such as surveillance, in door inspection in support of rescue operations and...

The near wake of the VAWT: 2D and 3D views of the VAWT aerodynamics

The analysis, modeling and design of the lift-driven Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT) has challenged the wind energy community for many decades; this limited progress in knowledge has severely impaired the development of the VAWT, giving rise to the myth that the VAWT rotor is inherently inefficient (in comparison with the more conventional...

Tomographic particle image velocimetry and its application to turbulent boundary layers

Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry is a new experimental method developed to study three-dimensional motion in turbulent flows. The technique is an extension of standard PIV and makes use of several simultaneous views of illuminated tracer particles and their three-dimensional reconstruction as a light intensity distribution by means of...

Improving BEM-based Aerodynamic Models in Wind Turbine Design Codes

Prediction of a tail downwash, ground effect and minimum unstick speed of jet transport aircraft

A design tool has been developed to estimate the horizontal tail size of a jet transport aircraft during the preliminary design phase with regard to the minimum unstick requirement. The ground effect has been modelled analytically using lifting line theory. The minimum unstick manoeuvre has been simulated numerically and is embedded in the...

Vortex flow and Vortex breakdown above delta wing in high subsonic flow