TY - GEN
T1 - Glider dynamics along ascending and descending helical flight paths
AU - Bouskela, Adrien
AU - Shkarayev, Sergey
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Soaring is a type of flight which utilizes the air motion within an atmosphere to sustain an aircraft in flight. If sufficient energy is available, it can allow for long endurance without the use of propulsion. This work studies the exchange of energy between a glider and both horizontal and vertical winds along canonical helical flight paths. Nature has demonstrated that substantial gains are possible with birds commonly seen flying without the need for wing flapping. They rely on complex flight paths dependent on specific wind environments and are generally split into two categories: static and dynamic soaring. The former relies on an upward motion of air called an updraft, wherein loitering flight is commonly used to gain altitude and potential energy. Dynamic soaring is when energy is extracted from variations in the horizontal wind. These can be temporal or spatial, leading to complex flight paths. There has been extensive work done to develop models, metrics, and solutions to optimal flight in either an updraft or varying horizontal wind environment. This work presents a solution to the combined effects along a simplified canonical path. Solution for dynamics of a point mass glider is applied to an ascending and descending helical flight path subject to steady vertical and variable horizontal wind. Results are calculated numerically for horizontal wind varying linearly with altitude. Energetics of the glider are analyzed in both the inertial and air relative frames. Flight experiments are conducted within unsteady air flows. Results reveal the localized effects of dynamic soaring and global effects of static soaring on energy over the helical flight path.
AB - Soaring is a type of flight which utilizes the air motion within an atmosphere to sustain an aircraft in flight. If sufficient energy is available, it can allow for long endurance without the use of propulsion. This work studies the exchange of energy between a glider and both horizontal and vertical winds along canonical helical flight paths. Nature has demonstrated that substantial gains are possible with birds commonly seen flying without the need for wing flapping. They rely on complex flight paths dependent on specific wind environments and are generally split into two categories: static and dynamic soaring. The former relies on an upward motion of air called an updraft, wherein loitering flight is commonly used to gain altitude and potential energy. Dynamic soaring is when energy is extracted from variations in the horizontal wind. These can be temporal or spatial, leading to complex flight paths. There has been extensive work done to develop models, metrics, and solutions to optimal flight in either an updraft or varying horizontal wind environment. This work presents a solution to the combined effects along a simplified canonical path. Solution for dynamics of a point mass glider is applied to an ascending and descending helical flight path subject to steady vertical and variable horizontal wind. Results are calculated numerically for horizontal wind varying linearly with altitude. Energetics of the glider are analyzed in both the inertial and air relative frames. Flight experiments are conducted within unsteady air flows. Results reveal the localized effects of dynamic soaring and global effects of static soaring on energy over the helical flight path.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85202837988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85202837988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2514/6.2024-3572
DO - 10.2514/6.2024-3572
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85202837988
SN - 9781624107160
T3 - AIAA Aviation Forum and ASCEND, 2024
BT - AIAA Aviation Forum and ASCEND, 2024
PB - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA
T2 - AIAA Aviation Forum and ASCEND, 2024
Y2 - 29 July 2024 through 2 August 2024
ER -