×

Dynamic flight stability of a bumblebee in forward flight. (English) Zbl 1257.76186

Summary: The longitudinal dynamic flight stability of a bumblebee in forward flight is studied. The method of computational fluid dynamics is used to compute the aerodynamic derivatives and the techniques of eigenvalue and eigenvector analysis are employed for solving the equations of motion. The primary findings are as the following. The forward flight of the bumblebee is not dynamically stable due to the existence of one (or two) unstable or approximately neutrally stable natural modes of motion. At hovering to medium flight speed [flight speed \( u_e = (0-3.5)m s^{-1}\); advance ratio \( J = 0-0.44\)], the flight is weakly unstable or approximately neutrally stable; at high speed (\( u_e = 4.5m s{-^1}\); \( J = 0.57\)), the flight becomes strongly unstable (initial disturbance double its value in only 3.5 wingbeats).

MSC:

76Z10 Biopropulsion in water and in air
92C10 Biomechanics
PDFBibTeX XMLCite
Full Text: DOI

References:

[1] Ellington C.P., van den Berg C., Willmott A.P., Thomas A.L.R. (1996). Leading edge vortices in insect flight. Nature 347: 472–473 · doi:10.1038/347472a0
[2] Dickinson M.H., Lehman F.O. and Sane S.P. (1999). Wing rotation and the aerodynamic basis of insect flight. Science 284: 1954–1960 · doi:10.1126/science.284.5422.1954
[3] Sun M. and Tang J. (2002). Unsteady aerodynamic force generation by a model fruit fly wing in flapping motion. J. Exp. Biol. 205: 55–70
[4] Taylor G.K. and Thomas A.L.R. (2003). Dynamic flight stability in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. J. Exp. Biol. 206: 2803–2829 · doi:10.1242/jeb.00501
[5] Sun M. and Xiong Y. (2005). Dynamic flight stability of a hovering bumblebee. J. Exp. Biol. 208: 447–459 · doi:10.1242/jeb.01407
[6] Sun M., Wang J.K. and Xiong Y. (2007). Dynamic flight stability of hovering insects. Acta Mech. Sin. 23(3): 231–246 · Zbl 1202.92007 · doi:10.1007/s10409-007-0068-3
[7] Dudley R. and Ellington C.P. (1990). Mechanics of forward flight in bumblebees. I. Kinematics and morphology. J. Exp. Biol. 148: 19–52
[8] Etkin B. (1972). Dynamics of Atmospheric Flight. Wiley, New York
[9] Sun M. and Yu X. (2006). Aerodynamic force generation in hovering flight in a tiny insect. AIAA J. 44: 1532–1540 · doi:10.2514/1.17356
[10] Yu, X.: Studies of the hovering flight in a tiny insect and insect wing/wing and wing/body interactions. Ph.D. thesis, School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing (2004)
[11] Ellington C.P. (1984). The aerodynamics of hovering insect flight. II. Morphological parameters. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 305: 17–40 · doi:10.1098/rstb.1984.0050
[12] Sun M. and Wu J.H. (2003). Aerodynamic force generation and power requirements in forward flight in a fruit fly with modeled wing motion. J. Exp. Biol. 206: 3065–3083 · doi:10.1242/jeb.00517
[13] Wu J.H. and Sun M. (2004). Unsteady aerodynamic forces of a flapping wing. J. Exp. Biol. 207: 1137–1150 · doi:10.1242/jeb.00868
This reference list is based on information provided by the publisher or from digital mathematics libraries. Its items are heuristically matched to zbMATH identifiers and may contain data conversion errors. In some cases that data have been complemented/enhanced by data from zbMATH Open. This attempts to reflect the references listed in the original paper as accurately as possible without claiming completeness or a perfect matching.