Research on biological flexible and foldable deployable Mars airplanes

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18773
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 24:Aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Nagai Hiroki 東北大学, 流体科学研究所, 教授 (70360724)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 藤田 昂志 東北大学, 流体科学研究所, 助教 (80774471)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 低レイノルズ数 / 火星飛行機 / 柔軟膜翼 / 誘電エラストマー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This proposal aims to develop a fixed-wing Mars airplane with a higher dimensional performance by controlling the flow field on the wing surface with a flexible membrane wing that mimics a living organism. We first fabricated a flexible membrane wing and investigated the effect of membrane deformation due to dynamic pressure on aerodynamic characteristics by visualizing the unsteady flow field. In particular, the relationship between the unsteady flow field and membrane vibration was clarified by acquiring multiple flow fields on the wing surface and recombining them. The other is the active control of flexible membranes by dielectric elastomers, and the effect of pre-strain on dielectric elastomer airfoils was investigated. We measured the membrane deformation when the pre-strain was varied by voltage and investigated the relationship with aerodynamic characteristics.

Free Research Field

空気力学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本提案において生物を模倣した翼を有する超小型火星飛行機の実現性を示すことが出来れば，世界各国の惑星探査研究者たちを魅了し，様々なアイデアの探査機が派生的に検討されるなど，その世界に与えるインパクトは大きい．本提案ではその先鞭をつける意味で大きな意義を持つ．
また本提案で火研究を行う柔軟膜翼は翼を極限まで薄く，柔軟性を持たせること（柔軟膜）ことにより，その空力特性を向上させ，ロバスト性も見込めるアイデアとなり，高高度無人機などの開発に大きく貢献するといえる．