UC Irvine

In recent history, humans have discovered and constructed many different mechanisms of flight. As far as technologies have advanced, flying birds and insects still outperform the agility, maneuverability, and stability of human-made air crafts. The research of flapping-wing micro-air-vehicles (FWMAV) studies the phenomenon behind the flapping wing and examines ways to design a similarly efficient flight mechanism. FWMAV utilizes biomimetic oscillatory vibrations for propulsion and control. Engineers create these mechanisms to be used as tools for scientific discovery, as there is much to learn from how biological creatures fly. Nature utilizes phenomena such as vibrational stabilization and the clapping effects of the wings to generate their flying capabilities. Engineers at UCI have found a clever way to increase the understanding of the complex wing aerodynamics and utilize the information to create a unique drone that can be seen nowhere else in the world. With the knowledge of the clapping effect, there should exist an optimal design and selection of materials where the capacity of the FWMAV to generate thrust and lift is maximized. Using a familiar flapping mechanism, iterating the maximum wing closure to adjust the clapping effect, and gathering the thrust and lift data to find the change in the force generation capacity. With this information, any appropriate wing configuration should be able to be adjusted in such a way that the clapping effect is optimized. A deeper understanding of wing aerodynamics provides a good basis for designing more efficient FWMAV drones.