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Analysis of maneuvering flight of an insect

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Abstract

Wing motion of a dragonfly in the maneuvering flight, which was measured by Wang et al.[1] was investigated. Equations of motion for a maneuvering flight of an insect were derived. These equations were applied for analyzing the maneuvering flight. Inertial forces and moments acting on a body and wings were estimated by using these equations and the measured motions of the body and the wings. The results indicated the following characteristics of this flight: (1) The phase difference in flapping motion between the two fore wings and two hind wings, and the phase difference between the flapping motion and the feathering motion of the four wings are equal to those in a steady forward flight with the maximum efficiency. (2) The camber change and the feathering motion were mainly controlled by muscles at the wing bases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aerospace Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, 599-8531, Sakai, Osaka, Japan

    S. Sunada

  2. Department of Precision Instruments, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    H. Wang & Lijiang Zeng

  3. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, 113-8656, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    K. Kawachi

Authors
  1. S. Sunada
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  2. H. Wang
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  3. Lijiang Zeng
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  4. K. Kawachi
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Correspondence to S. Sunada.

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Sunada, S., Wang, H., Zeng, L. et al. Analysis of maneuvering flight of an insect. J Bionic Eng 1, 88–101 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399459

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399459

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