Research Summaries

Back Experimental Investigation of Flapping-Wing Propulsion for High Speed Vessels

Fiscal Year 2008
Division Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Investigator(s) Jones, Kevin D.
Sponsor Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock Division (Navy)
Summary Instrument and evaluate a sub-scale model of an HSV-class catamaran ship using flapping-wings for propulsion in place of the usual water jets. A previous study indicated superior propulsive efficiency for a pair of flapping wings operating in a bi-plane arrangement. However, the numerical study did not include several aspects of the problem that may be influential to performance and control, and these will be evaluated experimentally in this study. Areas of particular interest include mechanical losses, use of the flapping-wings for pitch-trim, reverse thrust, and their effectiveness in heavy sea states. Another previous study led to the design and fabrication of a sub-scale test model.
Keywords Flapping Wing Propulsion
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal