arXiv subjects

Ignazio Maria Viola

Publications and source records attributed to Ignazio Maria Viola.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Agile manoeuvring of dandelion-inspired micro-flyers with vortex-enabled stability

Manoeuvring untethered, centimetre-scale airborne structures has been a long-standing challenge. Active flight systems, relying on high-power-density actuators alongside mechanical and electronic components, are constrained by critical limitations in energy delivery and miniaturisation. In contrast, passive systems transported and distributed by the wind typically lack the capability for mid-air controlled manoeuvrability. Here we report an ultra-light (1.2 mg) hexagonal polymeric assembly capable of passive flight with optical control of its trajectory. This dandelion-inspired micro-flyer incorporates six radially arranged filamentous structures, of which morphology is dynamically controlled through photomechanical deformation by six independent soft actuators made of liquid crystalline elastomer thin films. Compared to the diaspore of the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), micro-flyer demonstrate a similar terminal velocity (~0.5 m s-1), 45% better positional stability and nearly zero rotational rate (1.68 s-1; natural seeds: 50.8 s-1). Particle image velocimetry reveals that a stable asymmetric separated vortex ring underlies its flight stability, enabling mid-air steerability. When free-falling in a low-turbulent airstream, the light-driven hexapodal fliers demonstrate precise altitude control, reversible body flipping, pattern formation, interactive swarm, and controlled trajectories across three-dimensional space. The results show that responsive materials with light-induced asymmetry can bring about manoeuvrability in air, paving the way for agile, untethered controlled micro-fliers.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2025

Passive control of wing tip vortices through a grooved-tip design

This paper investigates the characteristics and control of tip vortices generated by a finite wing, focusing on the impact of the novel grooved-tip designs. Tip vortices can lead to flow loss, noise, vibration and cavitation in hydrodynamic systems. We propose and develop a grooved-tip design, featuring multiple grooves distributed along the wing tip to alter the tip vortex structure and dynamics. Four grooved-tip designs, including tilted and shrinking grooves, were experimentally investigated. Streamwise and cross-flow Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements were employed to visualise the flow fields near the wing tip and along the primary tip vortex trajectory. The PIV results demonstrate that the grooved-tip designs significantly reduce the velocity magnitude within the primary tip vortex. This velocity deficit is attributed to the decreased suction within the vortex core. Furthermore, cross-flow PIV measurements reveal that the tip separation vortex is substantially suppressed, and the strength of the primary tip vortex is significantly mitigated. Downstream of the wing, the grooved tips lead to a reduction in vortex swirling strength and an enlargement of the vortex dimensions, suggesting enhanced diffusion and a reduction of the pressure drop of approximately 40%. Our findings highlight the potential of these grooved-tip designs to effectively modify tip vortex behaviour and mitigate the pressure drop within the tip vortex region, with negligible changes to the lift and drag performance. This work can inform advanced passive vortex control strategies in wing- and blade-based systems, with potential applications in hydrofoils of marine vessels and underwater vehicles, as well as in turbines, propellers, pumps, etc.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Neural Network Verification for Gliding Drone Control: A Case Study

As machine learning is increasingly deployed in autonomous systems, verification of neural network controllers is becoming an active research domain. Existing tools and annual verification competitions suggest that soon this technology will become effective for real-world applications. Our application comes from the emerging field of microflyers that are passively transported by the wind, which may have various uses in weather or pollution monitoring. Specifically, we investigate centimetre-scale bio-inspired gliding drones that resemble Alsomitra macrocarpa diaspores. In this paper, we propose a new case study on verifying Alsomitra-inspired drones with neural network controllers, with the aim of adhering closely to a target trajectory. We show that our system differs substantially from existing VNN and ARCH competition benchmarks, and show that a combination of tools holds promise for verifying such systems in the future, if certain shortcomings can be overcome. We propose a novel method for robust training of regression networks, and investigate formalisations of this case study in Vehicle and CORA. Our verification results suggest that the investigated training methods do improve performance and robustness of neural network controllers in this application, but are limited in scope and usefulness. This is due to systematic limitations of both Vehicle and CORA, and the complexity of our system reducing the scale of reachability, which we investigate in detail. If these limitations can be overcome, it will enable engineers to develop safe and robust technologies that improve people's lives and reduce our impact on the environment.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2024

Controlling Tip Vortices and Cavitation through Tip Permeability for Tidal Turbines

Blade-tip vortices can lead to wakes, cavitation and noise, and their control remains a significant challenge for tidal and wind turbines. In the present work, we propose and investigate controlling tip vortices through local permeability. Blade-resolved Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation has been employed on a model-scale horizontal-axis turbine, following a rigorous validation and verification process. The tip-speed ratio of the turbine varies from 4.52 to 7.54. The tip permeability is modelled by including a porous zone over the blade tip section, within which Darcy's law is applied. The results demonstrate that there is an optimal range of permeability, corresponding to a non-dimensional Darcy number, Da, of around 10^{-5}, that can substantially decrease the tip vortex intensity. The revealed flow physics show that the permeable tip treatment can effectively enlarge the vortex viscous core radius with little change to the vortex circulation. As the tip vortex intensity is significantly reduced, the permeable tip treatment can increase the minimal pressure-coefficient at the vortex core by up to 63%, which significantly alleviates the cavitation risk due to tip vortices. This approach has negligible influence on the turbine's energy-harvesting performance because the spanwise extent of the permeable tip treatment is only in the order of 0.1% turbine diameter. Our findings demonstrate this approach's great promise to break the upper tip-speed ratio limit capped by cavitation for tidal turbines. These will contribute to developing more efficient and resilient turbines.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Unsteady Load Mitigation through Passive Pitch

Mitigation of load fluctuations due to flow unsteadiness is critical in a broad range of applications, including wind/tidal turbines, and aerial/underwater vehicles. While the use of active control systems is an established practice in engineering, passive systems are not well understood, and the limits of their efficacy are yet to be ascertained. To this end, the present study aims to provide new insights into the effectiveness of passive pitching in the mitigation of lift fluctuations in the most demanding case of fast, high-amplitude variations of the free stream speed and direction. We perform fluid-structure interaction simulations of a two-dimensional free-to-pitch rigid foil. Our study reveals that the lift amplitude of the force fluctuations can be decreased by at least two-thirds through passive pitching. The efficacy of the unsteady load mitigation is only weakly dependent on the exact pitching axis location, and the optimal position is upstream and close to the axis of the foil. These results may inform the design of passive control systems of wind/tidal turbines and aerial/underwater vehicles and provide new insights into interpreting the control strategy of natural flyers such as insects and birds.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Effect of transverse gust on free-falling plates

The effects of transverse gusts on free-falling plates are investigated using two-way coupled fluid-structure interaction simulations for a Galilei number (Ga) between 10 and 50 and a density ratio (rho) between 5 and 50. We consider gust ratios (GR) of up to 5, where GR is the ratio of the free-stream velocity change to an estimate of the terminal velocity. We demonstrate that the plate experiences the gust as a transient horizontal force, which displaces it horizontally. This results in a transient reduction in the angle of attack, an increase in absolute velocity and the generation of circulation. The vertical component of the latter increases the upward aerodynamic force, slowing down the vertical descent of the plate. Furthermore, the plate's horizontal displacement with respect to its original wake results in a further transient increase in the upward aerodynamic force. The altitude gained by the plate in response to the gust is maximum for rho=15, and increases non-monotonically with Ga and GR. The non-monotonic trend is due to plate pitch: if the maximum pitch of the plate in response to the gust is close to vertical, the plate temporarily falls faster, losing some of the altitude it has gained. The present findings reveal an energy-harvesting mechanism that free-falling bodies can exploit to increase their time afloat.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Porous plates at incidence

This paper investigates the effect of permeability on two-dimensional rectangular plates at incidences. The flow topology is investigated for Reynolds number ($Re$) values between 30 and 90, and the forces on the plate are discussed for $Re=30$, where the wake is found to be steady for any value of the Darcy number ($Da$) and the flow incidence ($\alpha$). At $Re=30$, for a plate normal to the stream and vanishing $Da$, the wake shows a vortex dipole with a stagnation point on the plate surface. With increasing $Da$, the separation between the vortex dipole and the plate increases; the vortex dipole shortens and is eventually annihilated at a critical $Da$. For any value of $Da$ below the critical one, the vortex dipole disappears with decreasing $\alpha$. However, at low $Da$, the two saddle-node pairs merge at the same $\alpha$, annihilating the dipole; while at high $Da$, they merge at different $\alpha$, resulting in a single recirculating region for intermediate incidences. The magnitudes of lift, drag, and torque decrease with $Da$. Nevertheless, there exists a range of $Da$ and $\alpha$, where the magnitude of the plate-wise force component increases with $Da$, driven by the shear on the plate's pressure side. Finally, the analysis of the fluid impulse suggests that the lift and drag reduction with $Da$ are associated with the weakening of the leading and trailing edge shear layer, respectively. The present findings will be directly beneficial in understanding the role of permeability on small porous wings.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Model-scale experiments of passive pitch control for tidal turbines

Tidal currents are renewable and predictable energy sources that could prove fundamental to decrease dependency from fossil fuels. Tidal currents, however, are highly unsteady and non uniform, resulting in undesirable load fluctuations on the blades and the drive train of turbines. A passive morphing blade concept capable to reduce the load fluctuations without affecting the mean loads has recently been formulated and demonstrated with numerical simulations (Pisetta et al., 2022). In this paper, we present the first demonstration of this morphing blade concept, through experimental tests on a 1.2 m diameter turbine. We show that fluctuations in the root-bending moment, thrust and torque are consistently reduced over a broad range of tip-speed ratios. This work also highlights some critical design aspects of morphing blades. For instance, it is showed that the friction resistance can substantially decrease the effectiveness of the system and thus must be minimised by design. Overall this paper demonstrates for the first time the effectiveness of morphing blades for tidal turbines, paving the way to the future development of this technology.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Applying inviscid linear unsteady lifting-line theory to viscous large-amplitude problems

Unsteady Lifting-Line Theory (ULLT) is a low order method capable of modeling interacting unsteady and finite wing effects at low computational cost. Most formulations of the method assume inviscid flow and small amplitudes. Whilst these assumptions might be suitable for small-amplitude aeroelastic problems at high Reynolds numbers, modern engineering applications increasingly involve lower Reynolds numbers, large amplitude kinematics and vortex structures that lead to aerodynamic non-linearities. This paper establishes that ULLT still provides a good solution for low Reynolds number, large-amplitude kinematics problems, by comparing ULLT results against those of experimentally validated computational fluid dynamics simulations at Re=10000. Three-dimensional (3D) effects stabilize Leading Edge Vortex (LEV) structures, resulting in a good prediction of whole wing force coefficients by ULLT. Whilst the inviscid spanwise force distributions are accurate for small-amplitude kinematics, the ULLT cannot model 3D vortical structures, and thus it cannot correctly predict the force distribution due the LEV. It can however predict the shedding of LEVs to a limited extent via the leading edge suction parameter criterion. This can then be used as an indicator of the usefulness of the force distribution results.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

The dispersion of spherical droplets in source-sink flows and their relevance to the COVID-19 pandemic

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of spherical droplets in the presence of a source-sink pair flow field. The dynamics of the droplets is governed by the Maxey-Riley equation with Basset-Boussinesq history term neglected. We find that, in the absence of gravity, there are two distinct behaviours for the droplets: small droplets cannot go further than a specific distance, which we determine analytically, from the source before getting pulled into the sink. Larger droplets can travel further from the source before getting pulled into the sink by virtue of their larger inertia, and their maximum travelled distance is determined analytically. We investigate the effects of gravity, and we find that there are three distinct droplet behaviours categorised by their relative sizes: small, intermediate-sized, and large. Counterintuitively, we find that the droplets with minimum horizontal range are neither small nor large, but of intermediate size. Furthermore, we show that in conditions of regular human respiration, these intermediate-sized droplets range in size from a few $μ$m to a few hundred $μ$m. The result that such droplets have a very short range could have important implications for the interpretation of existing data on droplet dispersion.

physics.flu-dyn↗