• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.355-364
• /
• 2010

Filiform hairs that respond to movements of the surrounding medium are the mechanoreceptors commonly found in arthropods and vertebrates. In these creatures, the filiform hairs function as a sensory system for raider detection. Parametric analyses of the motion response of filiform hairs are conducted by using a mathematical model of an artificial flow sensor to understand the possible operating ranges of a microfabricated device. It is found that the length and diameter of the sensory hair are the major parameters that determine the mechanical sensitivities and responses in a mean flow with an oscillating component. By changing the hair length, the angular displacement, velocity, and acceleration could be detected in a wide range of frequencies. Although the torques due to drag and virtual mass are very small, they are also very influential factors on the hair motion. The resonance frequency of the hair decreases as the length and diameter of the hair increase.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.311-328
• /
• 2017

The characteristics of boundary layers have significant effects on the aerodynamic forces and vibration of the wind turbine blade. The incorporation of active trailing edge flaps (ATEF) into wind turbine blades has been proven as an effective control approach for alleviation of load and vibration. This paper is aimed at investigating the effects of external trailing edge flaps on the flow pattern and velocity distribution within a boundary layer of a NREL 5MW reference wind turbine, as well as designing a new type of velocity sensors for future validation measurements. An aeroelastic-aerodynamic simulation with FAST-AeroDyn code was conducted on the entire wind turbine structure and the modifications were made on turbine blade sections with ATEF. The results of aeroelastic-aerodynamic simulations were combined with the results of two-dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulations. From these, the velocity profile of the boundary layer as well as the thickness variation with time under the influence of a simplified load case was calculated for four different blade-flap combinations (without flap, with $-5^{\circ}$, $0^{\circ}$, and $+5^{\circ}$ flap). In conjunction with the computational modeling of the characteristics of boundary layers, a bio-inspired hair flow sensor was designed for sensing the boundary flow field surrounding the turbine blades, which ultimately aims to provide real time data to design the control scheme of the flap structure. The sensor element design and performance were analyzed using both theoretical model and finite element method. A prototype sensor element with desired bio-mimicry responses was fabricated and validated, which will be further refined for integration with the turbine blade structures.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.35 no.8
• /
• pp.847-853
• /
• 2011

Filiform hairs that respond to movements of the surrounding medium are the mechanoreceptors commonly found in arthropods and vertebrates. The hairs function as a sensory system for perceiving information produced by prey, predators, or conspecifics. A mathematical model is proposed, and the parametric analyses for the response of artificial filiform hair are conducted to design and predict the performance of a microfabricated device. The results for the Cytop hair, one of the most popular polymer optical fibers (POFs), show that the fundamental mode has a dominant effect on the hair behavior in an oscillating medium flow. The dynamic behavior of sensory hair is also dependent on the physical dimensions such as length and diameter. It is found that the artificial hair with a high elastic modulus does not show a resonance in the biologically important frequency range.