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Cited by 179Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanismsFluid dynamics and aerodynamics studiesAeroelasticity and Vibration Control

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Flexible clap and fling in tiny insect flight

Open access
Miller, Laura A., Peskin, Charles S.·2009·Journal of Experimental Biology
DOI 10.1242/jeb.028662
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Abstract

Of the insects that have been filmed in flight, those that are 1 mm in length or less often clap their wings together at the end of each upstroke and fling them apart at the beginning of each downstroke. This ;clap and fling' motion is thought to augment the lift forces generated during flight. What has not been highlighted in previous work is that very large forces are required to clap the wings together and to fling the wings apart at the low Reynolds numbers relevant to these tiny insects. In this paper, we use the immersed boundary method to simulate clap and fling in rigid and flexible wings. We find that the drag forces generated during fling with rigid wings can be up to 10 times larger than what would be produced without the effects of wing-wing interaction. As the horizontal components of the forces generated during the end of the upstroke and beginning of the downstroke cancel as a result of the motion of the two wings, these forces cannot be used to generate thrust. As a result, clap and fling appears to be rather inefficient for the smallest flying insects. We also add flexibility to the wings and find that the maximum drag force generated during the fling can be reduced by about 50%. In some instances, the net lift forces generated are also improved relative to the rigid wing case.

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Tanaka, S. (1995). Thrips' flight. Part 1. In Symposia '95 of Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Abstracts (ed. K. Kawachi),pp. 27-34. Tokyo: Japan Science and Technology Corporation.

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Metadata

Authors
Miller, L. A., & Peskin, C. S.
Affiliations
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Corresponding author
Miller, Laura A.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Experimental Biology
Publisher
The Company of Biologists
Published
2009-10-01
Volume
212
Issue
19
Pages
3076-3090
ISSN
  • 0022-0949 (ISSN-L)
  • 1477-9145
DOI
10.1242/jeb.028662
OpenAlex
W2141248119
Cited by
179
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 7
FWCI
11.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Experimental Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
  • UNC Libraries
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid dynamics and aerodynamics studies
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Aeroelasticity and Vibration Control
Keywords
clap-and-fling, insect flight, wing flexibility, wing-wing interaction, drag force, lift generation, low Reynolds number aerodynamics, upstroke and downstroke, thrust generation, immersed boundary method
MeSH terms
Animals, Biomechanical Phenomena, Flight, Animal, Insecta, Wings, Animal, Body Size

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