Abstract
In order to clarify the fundamental mechanism of the hovering flight of a dragonfly, the numerical simulation of unsteady viscous flow around a tandem airfoil configuration oscillating in still air has been conducted by using a two-dimensional Navier-Stokes code. It is shown that the mutual flow interactions between the fore-and hind-airfoils are playing the dominant role in generating the time mean aerodynamic force acting in the direction of the stroke plane, which is indispensable for the dragonfly to hover with the body axis horizontal. The total amounts of the lifting force and the necessary power are also estimated and shown to be very close to those estimated by other researchers. Some additional numerical simulations and discussions are also presented to explain why a true hover-fly that has, in contrast with a dragonfly, only a pair of wings can also hover with the body axis horizontal.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 19th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 1 2001 |
| Event | 19th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference 2001 - Anaheim, CA, United States Duration: Jun 11 2001 → Jun 14 2001 |
Other
| Other | 19th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference 2001 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Anaheim, CA |
| Period | 6/11/01 → 6/14/01 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Aerospace Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering