Design and analysis of bird wing for flapping-wing aircraft  based on CFD method

ZHANG Haibo; QIU Wenqian; YAN Cunyue; LI Chuanchang

doi:10.12299/jsues.24-0397

Volume 39 Issue 4

Dec. 2025

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Article Navigation > Journal of Shanghai University of Engineering Science > 2025 > 39(4): 396-402, 450

ZHANG Haibo, QIU Wenqian, YAN Cunyue, LI Chuanchang. Design and analysis of bird wing for flapping-wing aircraft based on CFD method[J]. Journal of Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 2025, 39(4): 396-402, 450. doi: 10.12299/jsues.24-0397

Citation:

ZHANG Haibo, QIU Wenqian, YAN Cunyue, LI Chuanchang. Design and analysis of bird wing for flapping-wing aircraft based on CFD method[J]. Journal of Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 2025, 39(4): 396-402, 450. doi: 10.12299/jsues.24-0397

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Design and analysis of bird wing for flapping-wing aircraft based on CFD method

doi: 10.12299/jsues.24-0397

School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China

Received Date: 2024-12-30
Available Online: 2026-02-02
Publish Date: 2025-12-01

Abstract

Abstract

In order to improve the motion performance of a flapping-wing aircraft with a double “S” shaped dual-moment transmission mechanism, an in-depth analysis and optimization of the proposed novel flapping-wing model were conducted based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The geometric design of the airfoil was adjusted by focusing on key parameters such as leading edge radius, trailing edge angle, wingspan length, and airfoil thickness to achieve a better aerodynamic lift-to-drag ratio. High-quality meshes were generated in ANSYS software using an optimized mesh algorithm, and the dynamic mesh technique was adopted to simulate the fluid dynamics of the vehicle’s movement. The pressure contours and velocity contours of the vehicle under different flight attitudes were analyzed to verify the improved vehicle structure. The results show that the improved airfoil can effectively reduce pressure concentration and suppress vortices.
- flapping-wing aircraft,
- flexible wing,
- fluid simulation,
- mesh algorithm,
- dynamic mesh,
- cloud map

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References(19)

References

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