title: Improvement of the aerodynamic performance by wing flexibility and elytra--hind wing interaction of a beetle during forward flight.
abstract: In this work, the aerodynamic performance of beetle wing in free-forward flight was explored by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulation with measured wing kinematics. It is shown from the CFD results that twist and camber variation, which represent the wing flexibility, are most important when determining the aerodynamic performance. Twisting wing significantly increased the mean lift and camber variation enhanced the mean thrust while the required power was lower than the case when neither was considered. Thus, in a comparison of the power economy among rigid, twisting and flexible models, the flexible model showed the best performance. When the positive effect of wing interaction was added to that of wing flexibility, we found that the elytron created enough lift to support its weight, and the total lift (48.4 mN) generated from the simulation exceeded the gravity force of the beetle (47.5 mN) during forward flight.
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, PO Box 29, Ansan 425-600, Korea.
authors.forename: Tuyen Quang
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Le
authors.forename: Tien Van
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Truong
authors.forename: Soo Hyung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Tri
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Quang Truong
authors.forename: Jin Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Hoon Cheol
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Doyoung
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Byun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D005426:Flight, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: beetle; computational fluid dynamics simulation; elytra; forward flight; wing flexibility; wing interaction