Numerical study on aerodynamic effects in passive pitching dynamics of insect flapping wings

Abstract

This study is concerned with aerodynamic effects in passive pitching dynamics of insect flapping wings, which would be based on the Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI). Thus, we evaluated them using three-dimensional numerical analyses for the FSI based on the finite element method. In the numerical analyses, the FSI in insect flapping wing is broken down into its constituent components in order to find the aerodynamic effects in the passive pitching dynamics as follows: (a) The dipteran passive pitching dynamics is based on the interaction between the wing's elastic and aerodynamic forces, while it is enhanced by the wing's inertial effect. (b) The air damping leads the mode of wing's natural vibration from underdamping to overdamping so as to form the characteristic pitching motion, where the damped natural vibration of the wing appears so as to enhance the wing rotation.

Keywords

• insect flight
• flapping
• fluid-structure interaction
• projection method
• elasticity
• inertia
• aerodynamics