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Rearing and Long-Term Maintenance of Eristalis tenax Hoverflies for Research Studies
Published on: May 19, 2018
Effect of forewing and hindwing interactions on aerodynamic forces and power in hovering dragonfly flight
1Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. zw24@cornell.edu
Abstract:
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.
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