Experimental Aerodynamics of Flapping Wings: Aerodynamics of the DelFly II

The present work is divided in nine chapters, where Chapter 1 serves to briey introduce the present investigation and its objectives. As for the other ones, they are included in two di_erent parts. Part I includes Chapters 2 to 5 and gives an overview of preliminary information useful for understanding the core of the investigation: de_nition of three subcategories of Micro Aerial Vehicles (Chapter 2); introduction to the apping wing aerodynamics that includes kinematics, force generation mechanisms and some comments on birds aerodynamics and ight control (Chapter 3); presentation of the DelFly II, the vehicle used for this in- vestigation (Chapter 4); brief introduction to the Particle Image Velocimetry technique (Chapter 5). The core part of the present work is presented in Part II, which includes Chapters 6 to 9: presentation of the di_erent parts of the experimental setup employed during the various tests (Chapter 6); analysis of the planar PIV results (Chapter 7); analysis of the planar PIV results (Chapter 8); _nal conclusions and future recommendations (Chapter 9).Aerospace Engineerin