Multibody Dynamics and Optimisation of Flapping Wing Vehicle for Mars Atmospheric Flight

EasyChair Preprint 13606

Abstract

Martian thin atmosphere renders atmospheric flight significantly more challenging than flight on Earth. On the contrary to the conventional rotary and fixed wing configurations that have limited utilization due to their inefficiency in Low Reynolds flight regime, atmospheric flight on Mars by using flapping wing propulsion/lift gaining technique is a promising concept. To this end, the objective of the paper is to present a numerically efficient computational model and optimisation-based validation tool that will allow for ‘automated’ testing of the flapping-wing design principles how to fly on Mars. The algorithm is based on reduced-order FSI (fluid-structure interaction) model on Lie groups and quasi-steady model for a fruit fly-like aerial vehicles, combined with the Discrete Mechanics and Optimal Control (DMOC) approach.

Keyphrases: Flapping wing vehicle, Mars atmospheric flight, Multibody dynamics, Optimisation

@booklet{EasyChair:13606,
  author    = {Zdravko Terze and Marko Kasalo and Dario Zlatar and Pierangelo Masarati and Alessandro Cocco},
  title     = {Multibody Dynamics and Optimisation of Flapping Wing Vehicle for Mars Atmospheric Flight},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 13606},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2024}}