Object-oriented unsteady vortex lattice method for flapping flight

The unsteady vortex lattice method is used to model the oscillating plunging, pitching, twisting, and flapping motions of a finite-aspect-ratio wing. Its potential applications include design and analysis of small unmanned air vehicles and in the study of the high-frequency flapping flight of birds and other small flyers. The results are verified by theory and, in the plunging and pitching cases, by experimental data. The model includes free-wake relaxation, vortex stretching, and vortex dissipation effects and is implemented using object-oriented computing techniques. The results show that the method is capable of accurately simulating many of the features of complex flapping flight.