Damage Considerations of a Flexible Micro Air Vehicle Wing Using 3-D Laser Vibrometry

In recent years there has been a major push towards a new class of unmanned aerial vehicles: micro air vehicles. A great amount of research has been done towards the aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, construction, and flight characteristics of flexible wing micro air vehicles. However, there has not been much research done regarding possible structural deficiencies of a flexible micro air vehicle wing. The focus of this research is to evaluate the effects of damage on a flexible micro air vehicle wing, particularly its natural frequencies and mode shapes, using three dimensional laser vibrometry. The flexible micro air vehicle wing studied was based on a University of Florida micro air vehicle wing design and was examined using measurements from the Polytec 400-3D Scanning Vibrometer. Comparisons of the wing's natural frequencies and displacements were made between the wing's undamaged and damaged states.