{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34620"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34620","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Unsteady Aerodynamics of Deformable Thin Airfoils","abstract":"Unsteady aerodynamic theories are essential in the analysis of bird and insect flight. The study of these types of locomotion is vital in the development of flapping wing aircraft. This paper uses potential flow aerodynamics to extend the unsteady aerodynamic theory of Theodorsen and Garrick (which is restricted to rigid airfoil motion) to deformable thin airfoils. Frequency-domain lift, pitching moment and thrust expressions are derived for an airfoil undergoing harmonic oscillations and deformation in the form of Chebychev polynomials. The results are validated against the time-domain unsteady aerodynamic theory of Peters. A case study is presented which analyzes several combinations of airfoil motion at different phases and identifies various possibilities for thrust generation using a deformable airfoil.","abstract_html":"Unsteady aerodynamic theories are essential in the analysis of bird and insect flight. The study of these types of locomotion is vital in the development of flapping wing aircraft. This paper uses potential flow aerodynamics to extend the unsteady aerodynamic theory of Theodorsen and Garrick (which is restricted to rigid airfoil motion) to deformable thin airfoils. Frequency-domain lift, pitching moment and thrust expressions are derived for an airfoil undergoing harmonic oscillations and deformation in the form of Chebychev polynomials. The results are validated against the time-domain unsteady aerodynamic theory of Peters. A case study is presented which analyzes several combinations of airfoil motion at different phases and identifies various possibilities for thrust generation using a deformable airfoil.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Walker, William Paul"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","degree_department":"Aerospace and Ocean Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Patil, Mayuresh J."],"committee_members":["Canfield, Robert A.","Devenport, William J."],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-08-05","date_published":"2009-08-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:38Z","subjects":["Unsteady Aerodynamics","Deformable Airfoils"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-08182009-141222"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-08182009-141222","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34620","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Patil, Mayuresh J."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Canfield, Robert A.","Devenport, William J."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Walker, William Paul"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T20:43:43Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T20:43:43Z","2009-08-31"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2009-08-05"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Unsteady Aerodynamics","Deformable Airfoils"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-08182009-141222"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/34620"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Unsteady aerodynamic theories are essential in the analysis of bird and insect flight. The study of these types of locomotion is vital in the development of flapping wing aircraft. This paper uses potential flow aerodynamics to extend the unsteady aerodynamic theory of Theodorsen and Garrick (which is restricted to rigid airfoil motion) to deformable thin airfoils. Frequency-domain lift, pitching moment and thrust expressions are derived for an airfoil undergoing harmonic oscillations and deformation in the form of Chebychev polynomials. The results are validated against the time-domain unsteady aerodynamic theory of Peters. A case study is presented which analyzes several combinations of airfoil motion at different phases and identifies various possibilities for thrust generation using a deformable airfoil."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Unsteady Aerodynamics of Deformable Thin Airfoils"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Patil, Mayuresh J."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Canfield, Robert A.","Devenport, William J."],"dc:contributor.department":["Aerospace and Ocean Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Walker, William Paul"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-03-14T20:43:43Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-03-14T20:43:43Z","2009-08-31"],"dc:date.issued":["2009-08-05"],"dc:description.abstract":["Unsteady aerodynamic theories are essential in the analysis of bird and insect flight. The study of these types of locomotion is vital in the development of flapping wing aircraft. This paper uses potential flow aerodynamics to extend the unsteady aerodynamic theory of Theodorsen and Garrick (which is restricted to rigid airfoil motion) to deformable thin airfoils. Frequency-domain lift, pitching moment and thrust expressions are derived for an airfoil undergoing harmonic oscillations and deformation in the form of Chebychev polynomials. The results are validated against the time-domain unsteady aerodynamic theory of Peters. 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