Fluid–structure interaction simulation on flight performance of a dragonfly wing under different pterostigma weights

Abstract

Abstract The dragonfly wings provide insights for designing an efficient biomimetic micro air vehicle (BMAV). In this regard, this study focuses on investigating the effect of the pterostigma weight loading and its spatial location on the forewings of dragonfly by using the fluid–structure interaction simulation. This study also investigates the effect of change in the wing elasticity and density on the wing performance. The forewing, which mimics the real dragonfly wing, is flat with a 47.5 mm span and a 0.4 mm thickness. The wing was set to cruise at 3 m/s with a constant flapping motion at a frequency of 25 Hz. This study shows that a small increase of pterostigma loading (11% of wing weight) at the tip of the wing significantly improves the lift to drag ratio, CL/CD, which has 129.16% increment in comparison with no loading. The lift to drag ratio depends on the pterostigma location, pterostigma loading, elastic modulus and density. The results of this study can be used as a reference in future BMAV wing optimization design.