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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 3, 2026

Building an Enhanced Flight Mill for the Study of Tethered Insect Flight

Building an Enhanced Flight Mill for the Study of Tethered Insect Flight

Published on: March 10, 2021

Dynamic flight stability of a hovering model dragonfly.

Bin Liang¹, Mao Sun¹

¹Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics, Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Beijing, China.

Journal of Theoretical Biology

|February 4, 2014

Summary

Dragonfly flight is dynamically unstable due to an oscillatory mode, despite stabilizing forces. This instability stems from pitch-moment derivatives, but damping forces significantly reduce its impact.

Keywords:

Flight dynamics Highly inclined stroke planes Insect Two wing pairs

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Area of Science:

Aerodynamics
Biomechanics
Fluid Dynamics

Background:

Dragonflies exhibit complex flight dynamics.
Understanding insect flight stability is crucial for bio-inspired engineering.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the longitudinal dynamic flight stability of a model dragonfly during hovering.
To identify the primary factors contributing to flight instability and stability.

Main Methods:

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to calculate stability derivatives.
Eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis were employed to solve the equations of motion.

Main Results:

Three distinct modes of motion were identified: one unstable oscillatory mode and two stable subsidence modes.
The primary cause of instability is an unstable pitch-moment derivative concerning horizontal velocity.
Damping derivatives significantly mitigate the observed instability.

Conclusions:

Dragonfly hovering flight is dynamically unstable, primarily due to an oscillatory mode.
While forewing-hindwing interaction has minimal impact, damping forces play a crucial role in stability.
Dragonflies share stability characteristics with single-wing-pair insects, but with unique derivative generation due to their inclined stroke plane.