Influence of wing flexibility on the aerodynamic performance of a tethered flapping bumblebee

Truong, Hung; Engels, Thomas; Kolomenskiy, Dmitry; Schneider, Kai

doi:10.1016/j.taml.2020.01.056

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…To resolve the self-oscillation paradox, D. melanogaster wing flexibility would have to reduce drag forces (cΩ 2 ) to below half of current estimates, maintaining roughly equivalent lift. The flexibility observed in D. melanogaster wings during flight is not large [32,57]; and existing studies of insectoid flexible flapping wings indicate reductions in drag-per-lift of up to approximately 20% in the very best cases [58][59][60]. As such, wing flexibility could contribute slightly to resolving the self-oscillation paradox in D. melanogaster, but does not offer a complete resolution.…”

Section: Resolution Of the Self-oscillation Paradox Via Muscular Nonl...mentioning

confidence: 91%

The self-oscillation paradox in the flight motor ofDrosophila melanogaster

Pons

2023

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Tiny flying insects, such as Drosophila melanogaster , fly by flapping their wings at frequencies faster than their brains are able to process. To do so, they rely on self-oscillation: dynamic instability, leading to emergent oscillation, arising from muscle stretch-activation. Many questions concerning this vital natural instability remain open. Does flight motor self-oscillation necessarily lead to resonance—a state optimal in efficiency and/or performance? If so, what state? And is self-oscillation even guaranteed in a motor driven by stretch-activated muscle, or are there limiting conditions? In this work, we use data-driven models of wingbeat and muscle behaviour to answer these questions. Developing and leveraging novel analysis techniques, including symbolic computation, we establish a fundamental condition for motor self-oscillation common to a wide range of motor models. Remarkably, D. melanogaster flight apparently defies this condition: a paradox of motor operation. We explore potential resolutions to this paradox, and, within its confines, establish that the D. melanogaster flight motor is probably not resonant with respect to exoskeletal elasticity: instead, the muscular elasticity plays a dominant role. Contrary to common supposition, the stiffness of stretch-activated muscle is an obstacle to, rather than an enabler of, the operation of the D. melanogaster flight motor.

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Section: Resolution Of the Self-oscillation Paradox Via Muscular Nonl...mentioning

confidence: 91%

The self-oscillation paradox in the flight motor ofDrosophila melanogaster

Pons

2023

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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“…The flexible wing models provide important insights into the influence of flexibility on the aerodynamic performance of insects. The study [64] compared the aerodynamic forces and the power requirements between tethered bumblebees with highly flexible, flexible and rigid wings. The visualization in Figure 9 shows a FluSI computation of a tethered bumblebee with flapping flexible wings.…”

Section: Flexible Wingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational aerodynamics of insect flight using volume penalization

Engels¹,

Truong²,

Farge³

et al. 2022

Comptes Rendus. Mécanique

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The state-of-the-art of insect flight research using advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques on supercomputers is reviewed, focusing mostly on the work of the present authors. We present a brief historical overview, discuss numerical challenges and introduce the governing model equations. Two open source codes, one based on Fourier, the other based on wavelet representation, are succinctly presented and a mass-spring flexible wing model is described. Various illustrations of numerical simulations of flapping insects at low, intermediate and high Reynolds numbers are presented. The role of flexible wings, data-driven modeling and fluid-structure interaction issues are likewise discussed.

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“…Hence, we add 'cross-springs' (Fig. 1G) to give the membrane a slight bending stiffness [25]. This latter suppresses artifacts at the trailing edge of the wing where no discernible vein supports the membrane.…”

Section: Mass-spring Model For Elastic Wingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the relevant range of the Reynolds numbers (75-4000), wing deformation is caused mainly by the static pressure and the viscous fluid tension is considered negligible [48][49][50]. For timestepping, the coupled fluid-solid system is advanced by employing a semi-implicit staggered scheme, as explained in [25]. On the one hand, we advance the fluid by using the second order Adams-Bashforth (AB2) scheme.…”

Section: Coupling Between the Wing Model And The Fluid Solver For Flu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

An experimental data-driven mass-spring model of flexible Calliphora wings

Truong,

Engels,

Wehmann

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Insect wings can undergo significant deformation during flapping motion owing to inertial, elastic and aerodynamic forces. Changes in shape then alter aerodynamic forces, resulting in a fully coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problem. Here, we present detailed three-dimensional FSI simulations of deformable blowfly (Calliphora vomitoria) wings in flapping flight. A wing model is proposed using a multi-parameter mass-spring approach, chosen for its implementation simplicity and computational efficiency. We train the model to reproduce static elasticity measurements by optimizing its parameters using a genetic algorithm with covariance matrix adaptation (CMA-ES). Wing models trained with experimental data are then coupled to a high-performance flow solver run on massively parallel supercomputers. Different features of the modeling approach and the intra-species variability of elastic properties are discussed. We found that individuals with different wing stiffness exhibit similar aerodynamic properties characterized by dimensionless forces and power at the same Reynolds number. We further study the influence of wing flexibility by comparing between the flexible wings and their rigid counterparts. Under equal prescribed kinematic conditions for rigid and flexible wings, wing flexibility improves lift-to-drag ratio as well as lift-to-power ratio and reduces peak force observed during wing rotation.

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Influence of wing flexibility on the aerodynamic performance of a tethered flapping bumblebee

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

The self-oscillation paradox in the flight motor ofDrosophila melanogaster

The self-oscillation paradox in the flight motor ofDrosophila melanogaster

Computational aerodynamics of insect flight using volume penalization

An experimental data-driven mass-spring model of flexible Calliphora wings

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