Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Chang-kwon Kang

Committee Member

Farbod Fahimi

Committee Member

Ryan Conners

Research Advisor

Chang-kwon Kang

Subject(s)

Micro air vehicles--Wings--Design and construction, Biomimicry, Wings (Anatomy)--Aerodynamics, Monarch butterfly

Abstract

Due to its ability to travel long distances efficiently, as evidenced by its yearly migration, the monarch butterfly is a strong candidate upon which to base a micro-aerial vehicle. Of primary importance in this venture is designing artificial wings with similar kinematics to a monarch wing. A first attempt produced a wing that differed significantly from a monarch wing in terms of deformation while flapping and empirical force coefficient trends. Using a new resin-based 3D printer, a new wing has been designed and developed to improve upon the issue with the original artificial wing. Both wings are tested using a flapping mechanism and an array of VICON tracking cameras to measure their kinematics while flapping. The new wing proves to be a much closer match to the monarch wing in terms of deformation and empirical force production trends.

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