Unsteady aerodynamics of micro drones for Offshore Wind Farm Monitoring

该项目的目的是通过生物启发的基础研究，调查一种利用阵风来保持小型飞行器漂浮的机制。最近由Viola领导并发表在《自然》杂志上的研究（https：//doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0604-2）揭示了这种飞行器利用高度多孔的机翼形成了一种以前从未观察到的流体涡流，并减缓了它的下降速度。它还揭示了这一现象，它利用阵风来获得高度并减缓其下降速度。将进行计算流体动力学模拟，以研究这种抬升机制的基本原理，并支持蒲公英启发的无人机的设计：dandidrone。

The aim of the project is to investigate, through bio-inspired fundamental research, a mechanism to exploit wind gusts to keep small flyers afloat. Recent work led by Viola and published in Nature (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0604-2), reveals that the dandelion exploits a highly porous wing to form a fluid vortex, which has never been observed before, and that slows down its descent velocity. It also re-vealed that the dandelion exploits wind gusts to gain altitude and slow down its de-scent. Computational fluid dynamics simulations will be undertaken to study the underlying principles of this uplifting mechanism and to underpin the design of a dandelion-inspired drone: the dandidrone.