Pitch, Roll, and Yaw Damping of a Flapping Wing

A study was conducted to measure the major indicators of vehicle stability for a flapping-wing aircraft, such as roll, pitch, and yaw damping while hovering. The axes were defined for a hover flight so that the tip path plane was horizontal. Equations for the roll, the pitch, and the yaw damping were established and the values from them compared with the experimental values. A toy model ornithopter was used to perform the measurements. Each wing was made of two carbon spars and a vinyl sheet and has a schematic planform. The dynamics of the rotational motion of the bar with the flapping-wing aircraft were evaluated in the study. The analysis ignored the deformation of the wings out of the stroke plane, as the carbon spar on the leading edge was so rigid that its bending deformation was small.