title: Flight dynamics of a pterosaur-inspired aircraft utilizing a variable-placement vertical tail.
abstract: Mission performance for small aircraft is often dependent on the turn radius. Various biologically inspired concepts have demonstrated that performance can be improved by morphing the wings in a manner similar to birds and bats; however, the morphing of the vertical tail has received less attention since neither birds nor bats have an appreciable vertical tail. This paper investigates a design that incorporates the morphing of the vertical tail based on the cranial crest of a pterosaur. The aerodynamics demonstrate a reduction in the turn radius of 14% when placing the tail over the nose in comparison to a traditional aft-placed vertical tail. The flight dynamics associated with this configuration has unique characteristics such as a Dutch-roll mode with excessive roll motion and a skid divergence that replaces the roll convergence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lind
authors.forename: Sankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D003198:Computer Simulation; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000502:physiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation; D013623:Tail / Q000502:physiology*; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*