Aerodynamic Performance of Dragonfly Forewing-Hindwing Interaction in Gliding Flight

Abstract

In order to study the aerodynamic performance of dragonfly forewing-hindwing interaction in gliding flight, the three-dimensional (3D) model with corrugation of dragonfly forewing and hindwing are established. This paper studied the aerodynamic effects of dragonfly forewing-hindwing interaction at gliding motion using the method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for angles of attack changing from 0° to 25°(with an interval of 5°). Numerical simulation indicates that the interactions between forewing and hindwing enhance the aerodynamic performance of both forewing and hindwing to varying degrees compared to independent wings, especially the effect of forewing is more evident at small angle of attack.