M.Ing. / Sustained or long endurance solar powered flight is defined as an aircraft capable of main- taining flight through multiple day-night flight cycles, using only solar power and rechargable energy stores. The project is focused on developing solar powered flight theory and real-world unmanned aerial vehicle implementations. The important aspects of system design are es- tablished and studied at a fundamental theoretical level. A preliminary design is conducted with endurance optimisation as the main aim. The optimisation process aims to establish a theoretical basis for sustained solar powered flight. The project is started with a feasibility and relevance study. A literature study was used to gather the required theoretical information. A novel theoretical preliminary design basis is conducted. The study is aimed at answering many questions in the field. The study is the first to show how previously varied aircraft from 3 m to 80 m are valid solutions to the long endurance flight requirement. The optimisation results correlates well with the current state-of-the-art. The theoretical models were then characterised through the development of two unmanned aerial vehicles. The development required a multidisciplinary integration of various fields. The development process was characterised and discussed. Flight automation was successfully integrated into the system. Multiple test flights were conducted. An interpretation of multi- faceted results are given. This project has contributed to international theory regarding solar powered and sustained endurance aircraft. Many specific contributions were made to the field. The project has achieved multiple unofficial records from the flight tests in the Southern Hemisphere and African continent.

A bas nombre de Reynolds, le concept de voilure battante apparaît comme une alternative auxconcepts conventionnels de voilure fixe et voilure tournante. Dans le cadre d’une applicationpratique (micro-drones ou MAVs), l’évaluation de l’adaptabilité d’un tel mode de sustentationrequiert la compréhension fine des principaux mécanismes aérodynamiques mis en jeu et de leurimpact sur les efforts résultants. Ces derniers se caractérisent par une instationnarité forte et descomportements complexes.Les travaux de cette thèse se concentrent sur l'étude du mouvement de vol battu à bas Reynolds (del'ordre de 1000), dans une configuration de vol stationnaire. Le modèle est constitué d’une ailerectangulaire à profil symétrique animé d’un mouvement couplé de battement et de tangage. Cemode de sustentation se caractérise par la génération à proximité de l'aile de structurestourbillonnaires plus ou moins persistantes influant fortement les efforts appliqués à l’aile.L'objectif consiste à analyser l'évolution des mécanismes instationnaires et des efforts en résultant.L'étude porte en particulier sur une analyse approfondie d'un cas de référence, comparé ensuite àd'autre résultats lors d'une étude paramétrique portant sur l’influences de l'allongement d'une part, etde la cinématique du mouvement d'autre part.Les moyens d’investigations adoptés pour mener cette étude sont à la fois numériques etexpérimentaux, L’analyse repose d’une part sur une approche numérique DNS utilisant unetechnique de maillage « chimère », et d’autre part sur des mesures en bassin de type PIV 3D-3Crésolues en temps. La mesure directe des efforts instationnaires de faible niveau étant difficilementenvisageable, une part importante du travail a consisté à adapter une méthode d’évaluation desefforts par bilan de quantité de mouvement à partir des champs de vitesse PIV résolus en temps. Lespoints durs de cette approche, en particulier l’évaluation de la pression à partir des champs devitesse, font l’objet d’une attention particulière. / A low Reynolds number, flapping wings appears as an alternative to conventional concepts of fixed wings and rotary wings aircrafts. In the context of a practical application (micro air vehicles, MAVs), assessing the suitability of such mode of lift generation requires a detailed understanding of the key aerodynamic mechanisms involved and their impact on resulting forces. These are characterized by a strong unsteadiness and complex behaviors.This work focuses on the study of flapping flight at low Reynolds (around 1 000), in a hover configuration. The model consists of a rectangular wing with a symmetrical profile in a flapping motion. This mode is characterized by the generation of vortex structures more or less persistent that strongly influence the forces applied to the wing.The objective is to analyze the evolution of unsteady mechanisms and resulting forces. The study focuses in particular on a thorough analysis of e reference case, then compared to other results in a parametric study on the influence of aspect-ratio on the one hand, and on the kinematic of movement on the other.The means of investigation adopted for this study are both numerical and experimental. The analysis is based in part on a numerical approach using a DNS meshing technique “chimera”, and on experimental approach with 3C-3D TR-PIV measures. Direct measurement of unsteady low forces being difficult to consider, an important part of the work was to adapt a method for evaluating loads by applying momentum equation using PIV velocity fields. The bottleneck of this approach which is the evaluation of the pressure from the velocity fields is subject to special attention.