Investigations on aerodynamic characteristics of the flexible-rigid hybrid wing micro air vehicle

This paper presents a new conception of configuration of micro air vehicle (MAV), which combines flexible wing with rigid wing, and forms a flexible-rigid wing MAV. Compared with rigid wing MAV, the aerodynamic characteristics of flexible-rigid hybrid wing MAV was studied with wind tunnel test. Based on the wind tunnel test, flexible-rigid hybrid wing MAV prototype model was tested in flight. The wind tunnel and flight test investigations show that the new conception of configuration of MAV is feasible, and compared to the rigid-fixed wing MAV, flexible-rigid hybrid wing MAV has better aerodynamic characteristics, which is also valid to solve stability of the MAV flight in the wind.