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Uncovering the physics of flapping flat plates with artificial evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2005

MICHELE MILANO
Affiliation:
Graduate Aeronautics Laboratories, Option of Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
MORTEZA GHARIB
Affiliation:
Graduate Aeronautics Laboratories, Option of Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Abstract

We consider an experiment in which a rectangular flat plate is flapped with two degrees of freedom, and a genetic algorithm tunes its trajectory parameters so as to achieve maximum average lift force, thus evolving a population of trajectories all yielding optimal lift forces. We cluster the converged population by defining a dynamical formation number for a flapping flat plate, thus showing that optimal unsteady force generation is linked to the formation of a leading-edge vortex with maximum circulation. Force and digital particle image velocimetry measurements confirm this result.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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