Numerical study of the unsteady aerodynamics of rotating seeds

FERNANDO G. FLORES; SERGIO PREIDIKMAN; BRUNO A. ROCCIA

BUENOS AIRES

Congreso; IEEE ARGENCON 2016; 2016

IEEE AREGENTINA

Over millions of years of evolution, most plants have developed specific mechanisms that allow them to increase its population spread: their fruits or seeds may have "organs" that enable them to generate enough lift to stay aloft, for a while, as they fall. Those seeds describing a rotational motion, called samaras, are perhaps the simplest, stable and efficient flying devices designed by nature. In this paper, we present a well-suited numerical tool for studying the aerodynamics of rotating seeds. The proposed simulation framework is based on a modified version of the well-known unsteady vortex-lattice method (UVLM) coupled with a kinematics model, that was previously developed by the authors of this paper. In order to test the computational code, validate the aerodynamic model and set limitations of the model, we successfully reproduced a classic well-documented problem: a two-blade rotor in hover. Finally, we present numerical results related to the aerodynamics of a rotating seed in its descending phase.