Biofluiddynamic scaling of flapping, spinning and translating fins and wings

TY - JOUR

T1 - Biofluiddynamic scaling of flapping, spinning and translating fins and wings

AU - Lentink, D.

AU - Dickinson, M.H.

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - Organisms that swim or fly with fins or wings physically interact with the surrounding water and air. The interactions are governed by the morphology and kinematics of the locomotory system that form boundary conditions to the Navier–Stokes (NS) equations. These equations represent Newton's law of motion for the fluid surrounding the organism. Several dimensionless numbers, such as the Reynolds number and Strouhal number, measure the influence of morphology and kinematics on the fluid dynamics of swimming and flight. There exists, however, no coherent theoretical framework that shows how such dimensionless numbers of organisms are linked to the NS equation. Here we present an integrated approach to scale the biological fluid dynamics of a wing that flaps, spins or translates. Both the morphology and kinematics of the locomotory system are coupled to the NS equation through which we find dimensionless numbers that represent rotational accelerations in the flow due to wing kinematics and morphology. The three corresponding dimensionless numbers are (1) the angular acceleration number, (2) the centripetal acceleration number, and (3) the Rossby number, which measures Coriolis acceleration. These dimensionless numbers consist of length scale ratios, which facilitate their geometric interpretation. This approach gives fundamental insight into the physical mechanisms that explain the differences in performance among flapping, spinning and translating wings. Although we derived this new framework for the special case of a model fly wing, the method is general enough to make it applicable to other organisms that fly or swim using wings or fins

AB - Organisms that swim or fly with fins or wings physically interact with the surrounding water and air. The interactions are governed by the morphology and kinematics of the locomotory system that form boundary conditions to the Navier–Stokes (NS) equations. These equations represent Newton's law of motion for the fluid surrounding the organism. Several dimensionless numbers, such as the Reynolds number and Strouhal number, measure the influence of morphology and kinematics on the fluid dynamics of swimming and flight. There exists, however, no coherent theoretical framework that shows how such dimensionless numbers of organisms are linked to the NS equation. Here we present an integrated approach to scale the biological fluid dynamics of a wing that flaps, spins or translates. Both the morphology and kinematics of the locomotory system are coupled to the NS equation through which we find dimensionless numbers that represent rotational accelerations in the flow due to wing kinematics and morphology. The three corresponding dimensionless numbers are (1) the angular acceleration number, (2) the centripetal acceleration number, and (3) the Rossby number, which measures Coriolis acceleration. These dimensionless numbers consist of length scale ratios, which facilitate their geometric interpretation. This approach gives fundamental insight into the physical mechanisms that explain the differences in performance among flapping, spinning and translating wings. Although we derived this new framework for the special case of a model fly wing, the method is general enough to make it applicable to other organisms that fly or swim using wings or fins

KW - low reynolds-numbers

KW - unsteady aerodynamic performance

KW - insect flight

KW - revolving wings

KW - hovering flight

KW - lift

KW - animals

KW - vortex

KW - drosophila

KW - mechanism

U2 - 10.1242/jeb.022251

DO - 10.1242/jeb.022251

M3 - Article

VL - 212

SP - 2691

EP - 2704

JO - Journal of Experimental Biology

JF - Journal of Experimental Biology

SN - 0022-0949

IS - 16

ER -