Effect of forewing and hindwing interactions on aerodynamic forces and power in hovering dragonfly flight.
Dragonflies are four-winged insects that have the ability to control aerodynamic performance by modulating the phase lag (phi) between forewings and hindwings. We film the wing motion of a tethered dragonfly and compute the aerodynamic force and power as a function of the phase. We find that the out-of-phase motion as seen in steady hovering uses nearly minimal power to generate the required force to balance the weight, and the in-phase motion seen in takeoffs provides an additional force to accelerate. We explain the main hydrodynamic interaction that causes this phase dependence.
Wang
Z Jane
ZJ
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. zw24@cornell.edu
Russell
David
D
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000502:physiology*