PATH OPTIMIZATION OF FLAPPING AIRFOILS BASED ON NURBS

The path of a flapping airfoil during upstroke and down-stroke is optimized for maximum thrust and propulsive efficiency. The periodic flapping motion in combined pitch and plunge is described using Non-Uniform B-Splines(NURBS). A gradient based algorithm is employed for optimization of the NURBS parameters. Unsteady, low speed laminar flows are computed using a Navier-Stokes solver in a parallel computing environment based on domain decomposition. It is shown that the thrust generation is significantly improved in comparison to the sinusoidal flapping motion. For a high thrust generation, the airfoil stays at a high effective angle of attack for short durations.