The effect of phase angle and wing spacing on tandem flapping wings

In a tandem wing configuration, the hindwing often operates in the wake of the forewing and, hence, its performance is affected by the vortices shed by the forewing. Changes in the phase angle between the flapping motions of the fore and the hind wings, as well as the spacing between them, can affect the resulting vortex/wing and vortex/vortex interactions. This study uses 2D numerical simulations to investigate how these changes affect the leading dege vortexes (LEV) generated by the hindwing and the resulting effect on the lift and thrust coefficients as well as the efficiencies. The tandem wing configuration was simulated using an incompressible Navier-Stokes solver at a chord-based Reynolds number of 5 000. A harmonic single frequency sinusoidal oscillation consisting of a combined pitch and plunge motion was used for the flapping wing kinematics at a Strouhal number of 0.3. Four different spacings ranging from 0.1 chords to 1 chord were tested at three different phase angles, 0°, 90° and 180°. It was found that changes in the spacing and phase angle affected the timing of the interaction between the vortex shed from the forewing and the hindwing. Such an interaction affects the LEV formation on the hindwing and results in changes in aerodynamic force production and efficiencies of the hindwing. It is also observed that changing the phase angle has a similar effect as changing the spacing. The results further show that at different spacings the peak force generation occurs at different phase angles, as do the peak efficiencies.