Aerodynamic Investigation on a Novel Paper-Folding Micro Annular Aerial Robot

Abstract

Micro aerial vehicle (MAV) gradually gains plentiful attention in recent years. However, it is still a full challenge to design MAVs with high aerodynamic performance because aerodynamic efficiency of wings deteriorates sharply at low Reynolds numbers. Under this circumstance, we focus on one unconventional configuration with annular wing, which can be folded from a square paper. The annular paperplane configuration is described with geometric parameters, and the longitudinal and lateral aerodynamic characteristics are studied with RANS method.