A computational study of the aerodynamic performance of a dragonfly forewing in gliding flight

Abstract

Gliding flight is a common mode of flight for dragonfly, the objective of the current research is to use numerical simulations to explore whether the corrugations have positive effect on aerodynamic performance of the dragonfly wings in gliding flight. In order to compare aerodynamic performance of the dragonfly wing and flat plate, a three-dimensional model of the dragonfly forewing and a three-dimensional flat plate with the same shape of the dragonfly forewing are established. The flow fields around three-dimensional dragonfly forewing and flat plate are simulated for Re=10000 and angles of attack changing from 0° to 25°(with an interval of 5°), numerical simulation indicate that aerodynamic performance of the dragonfly wing is slightly better than the flat plate over the entire range of parameters tested, especially the effect of the corrugateions on the flow is more evident at large angle of attack.