Computational Fluid-Structure Interaction Framework for Simulating Characteristic Deformations in Insect Flapping Wings

M. Onishi, D. Ishihara
2021 9th edition of the International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems in Science and Engineering   unpublished
In this study, a computational fluid-structure interaction (FSI) framework for characteristic deformations in insect's wings is proposed. The proposed framework consists of a pixel wing model using a structured shell finite element mesh, a projection method for the monolithic FSI monolithic equations using an algebraic splitting, and the FSI dynamic similarity law to measure dynamic similarity between model's and actual insect's flights. It is shown that the proposed framework can directly
more » ... ate passive feathering and cambering in insect's wings caused by the FSI, whose magnitudes are very close to those of actual insects. INTRODUCTION In insect's wings, wing membranes are supported by a complicated network of veins. Characteristic wing shape changes such as feathering and cambering are observed in many species of insects. These changes will be the elastic deformation caused by the inertial and aerodynamic forces because of no interior muscle in insects' wings [1] . Many literatures have reported their essential importance for creating insect's flight abilities [2-5]. However, the detailed mechanism of these characteristic deformations is still unclear because of the complicated wing's structure strongly coupled with the surrounding air flow. In this study, a computational FSI framework for simulating characteristic deformations in insect flapping wings is proposed. The proposed framework consists of a pixel wing model using a structured shell finite element mesh [6], a projection method for the FSI monolithic equation system using an algebraic splitting [7] , and the FSI dynamic similarity law to measure dynamic similarity between model's and actual insect's flights [8] . It is shown that the proposed framework can simulate the passive feathering and cambering caused by the FSI directly, whose magnitudes are very close to those of actual insects.
doi:10.23967/coupled.2021.012 fatcat:yk2otbt3cbfkndntd4tpb356iu