In this video, effect of chordwise damage on a damselfly (American Rubyspot)s wings is investigated. High speed photogrammetry was used to collect the data of damselflies flight with intact and damaged wings along the wing chord. Different level of deterioration of flight performance can be observed. Further investigation will be on the dynamic and aerodynamic roles of each wing with and without damage.
The large active wing deformation is a significant way to generate high aerodynamic forces required in bat flapping flight. Besides the twisting, the elementary morphing models of a bat wing are proposed, such as wing-bending in the spanwise direction, wing-cambering in the chordwise direction, and wing area-changing. A plate of aspect ratio 3 is used to model a bat wing and a three dimensional unsteady panel method is applied to predict the aerodynamic forces. It is found that the cambering model has a great positive influence on the lift, followed by area-changing model and then the bending model. The further study indicates that the vortex control is a main mechanism to produce high aerodynamic forces, and the mechanisms for the aerodynamic force enhancement are the asymmetry of the cambered wing and the amplifier effects of wing area-changing and wing bending. The lift and thrust are mainly generated during the downstroke and almost negligible forces during the upstroke by the integrated morphing model-wing.
The transition of the vortex pattern and the lift generated by a heaving wing in a uniform flow was investigated numerically. Motivated by insects flight maneuverability, we studied the relationship between a temporal change in the heaving wing motion and the change in the global vortex pattern. At a Strouhal number that generates an asymmetric vortex pattern, we found that temporal angular frequency reduction causes inversion of both the global vortex pattern and the lift sign. The inversion is initiated by the transfer of the leading-edge vortex, which interferes with the vortex pattern generated at the trailing edge. Successful inversion is conditioned on the starting phase and the time interval of the frequency reduction. The details of the process during the transition are discussed.
Using experiments and theory, we show that light scattering by inhomogeneities in the index of refraction of a fluid can drive a large-scale flow. The experiment uses a near-critical, phase-separated liquid, which experiences large fluctuations in its index of refraction. A laser beam traversing the liquid produces a large-scale deformation of the interface and can cause a liquid jet to form. We demonstrate that the deformation is produced by a scattering-induced flow by obtaining good agreements between the measured deformations and those calculated assuming this mechanism.
In this article we consider the linear stability of the two-dimensional flow induced by the linear stretching of a surface in the streamwise direction. The basic flow is a rare example of an exact analytical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. Using results from a large Reynolds number asymptotic study and a highly accurate spectral numerical method we show that this flow is linearly unstable to disturbances in the form of Tollmien-Schlichting waves. Previous studies have shown this flow is linearly stable. However, our results show that this is only true for G{o}rtler-type disturbances.
This paper concerns feedback stabilization of point vortex equilibria above an inclined thin plate and a three-plate configuration known as the Kasper Wing in the presence of an oncoming uniform flow. The flow is assumed to be potential and is modeled by the 2D incompressible Euler equations. Actuation has the form of blowing and suction localized on the main plate and is represented in terms of a sink-source singularity, whereas measurement of pressure across the plate serves as system output. We focus on point-vortex equilibria forming a one-parameter family with locus approaching the trailing edge of the main plate and show that these equilibria are either unstable or neutrally stable. Using methods of linear control theory we find that the system dynamics linearised around these equilibria are both controllable and observable for almost all actuator and sensor locations. The design of the feedback control is based on the Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) compensator. Computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of this control and the key finding is that Kasper Wing configurations are in general more controllable than their single plate counterparts and also exhibit larger basins of attraction under LQG feedback control. The feedback control is then applied to systems with additional perturbations added to the flow in the form of random fluctuations of the angle of attack and a vorticity shedding mechanism. Another important observation is that, in the presence of these additional perturbations, the control remains robust, provided the system does not deviate too far from its original state. Furthermore, introducing a vorticity shedding mechanism tends to enhance the effectiveness of the control. Physical interpretation is provided for the results of the controllability and observability analysis as well as the response of the feedback control to different perturbations.