Design and fabrication of dragonfly test bed for aerodynamic characterization

This paper focuses on the design of an electro-mechanical device for studying the aerodynamic behavior of flapping wings. The experimental device is designed to mimic the flight behavior of dragon fly. Wing flapping speed is precisely controlled by controlling the motor speed. Wing flapping amplitude could be varied by changing the rotating arm length. Wing rotation amplitudes during down- and up- stroke could be different and are controlled separately by two different springs. A six degree of freedom sensor is placed at the wing root to collect the force and torque data. The test of a wing with a dragonfly hind-wing contour but enlarged 11 times, showed the device met the design expectation, and further more, the phase-averaged data for lift force in one flapping cycle had the similar pattern as the ones obtained via CFD simulations as well as the one calculated based on a real dragonfly's flight behavior.