Stretching and retracting wingspan has been widely observed in the flight of birds and bats, and its effects on the aerodynamic performance particularly lift generation are intriguing. The rectangular flat-plate flapping wing with a sinusoidally stre
tching and retracting wingspan is proposed as a simple model of biologically-inspired dynamic morphing wings. Direct numerical simulations of the low-Reynolds-number flows around the flapping morphing wing in a parametric space are conducted by using immersed boundary method. It is found that the instantaneous and time-averaged lift coefficients of the wing can be significantly enhanced by dynamically changing wingspan in a flapping cycle. The lift enhancement is caused not only by changing the lifting surface area, but also manipulating the flow structures that are responsible to the generation of the vortex lift. The physical mechanisms behind the lift enhancement are explored by examining the three-dimensional flow structures around the flapping wing.
The morphology of graphene on SiC {0001} surfaces formed in various environments including ultra-high vacuum, 1 atm of argon, and 10^-6 to 10^-4 Torr of disilane is studied by atomic force microscopy, low-energy electron microscopy, and Raman spectro
scopy. The graphene is formed by heating the surface to 1100 - 1600 C, which causes preferential sublimation of the Si atoms. The argon atmosphere or the background of disilane decreases the sublimation rate so that a higher graphitization temperature is required, thus improving the morphology of the films. For the (0001) surface, large areas of monolayer-thick graphene are formed in this way, with the size of these areas depending on the miscut of the sample. Results on the (000-1) surface are more complex. This surface graphitizes at a lower temperature than for the (0001) surface and consequently the growth is more three-dimensional. In an atmosphere of argon the morphology becomes even worse, with the surface displaying markedly inhomogeneous nucleation, an effect attributed to unintentional oxidation of the surface during graphitization. Use of a disilane environment for the (000-1) surface is found to produce improved morphology, with relatively large areas of monolayer-thick graphene.
