據(jù)9月18日的《科學(xué)》雜志報(bào)道說,，新的發(fā)現(xiàn)提示,，昆蟲翼翅的旋轉(zhuǎn)和扭曲是一個(gè)從前未被注意到的飛行過程中的一個(gè)重要部分,。 這一資訊對(duì)那些嘗試設(shè)計(jì)模擬昆蟲撲翼的飛行器的工程師們應(yīng)該是有用的,，因?yàn)樵谶^去的模型中,，人們將翼翅當(dāng)作一個(gè)剛性的平板，盡管事實(shí)上昆蟲的翼翅在飛行中會(huì)有顯著的變形,。
為了研究這一變形給空氣動(dòng)力學(xué)帶來的裨益,，John Young及其同僚首先應(yīng)用高速數(shù)碼照相機(jī)來監(jiān)看真實(shí)蝗蟲的翼翅運(yùn)動(dòng)。 他們將這些結(jié)果與一個(gè)根據(jù)流體動(dòng)力學(xué)模型所作的三維電腦模擬的結(jié)果進(jìn)行了比較,。 這些結(jié)果匹配良好,，確認(rèn)了電腦模型的有效性，并表明,，現(xiàn)代空氣動(dòng)力學(xué)理論可以精確地模仿昆蟲飛行的空氣動(dòng)力學(xué),。研究人員接著應(yīng)用該模型來觀察移除不同的翼翅特征時(shí)會(huì)對(duì)昆蟲的飛行功效產(chǎn)生什么樣的影響。 他們發(fā)現(xiàn),，翼翅表面的曲率以及翼翅的扭轉(zhuǎn)能力對(duì)蝗蟲的飛行動(dòng)力學(xué)皆會(huì)產(chǎn)生重要的作用,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science 18 September 2009:DOI: 10.1126/science.1175928
Details of Insect Wing Design and Deformation Enhance Aerodynamic Function and Flight Efficiency
John Young,1 Simon M. Walker,2 Richard J. Bomphrey,2 Graham K. Taylor,2 Adrian L. R. Thomas2,*
Insect wings are complex structures that deform dramatically in flight. We analyzed the aerodynamic consequences of wing deformation in locusts using a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation based on detailed wing kinematics. We validated the simulation against smoke visualizations and digital particle image velocimetry on real locusts. We then used the validated model to explore the effects of wing topography and deformation, first by removing camber while keeping the same time-varying twist distribution, and second by removing camber and spanwise twist. The full-fidelity model achieved greater power economy than the uncambered model, which performed better than the untwisted model, showing that the details of insect wing topography and deformation are important aerodynamically. Such details are likely to be important in engineering applications of flapping flight.
1 School of Engineering and Information Technology, University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia.
2 Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
