Kinematics Measurement and Power Requirements of Fruitflies at Various Flight Speeds

Hao Jie Zhu and Mao Sun
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Hao Jie Zhu: Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Mao Sun: Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: Energy expenditure is a critical characteristic in evaluating the flight performance of flying insects. To investigate how the energy cost of small-sized insects varies with flight speed, we measured the detailed wing and body kinematics in the full speed range of fruitflies and computed the aerodynamic forces and power requirements of the flies. As flight speed increases, the body angle decreases and the stroke plane angle increases; the wingbeat frequency only changes slightly; the geometrical angle of attack in the middle upstroke increases; the stroke amplitude first decreases and then increases. The mechanical power of the fruitflies at all flight speeds is dominated by aerodynamic power (inertial power is very small), and the magnitude of aerodynamic power in upstroke increases significantly at high flight speeds due to the increase of the drag and the flapping velocity of the wing. The specific power (power required for flight divided by insect weigh) changes little when the advance ratio is below about 0.45 and afterwards increases sharply. That is, the specific power varies with flight speed according to a J-shaped curve, unlike those of aircrafts, birds and large-sized insects which vary with flight speed according to a U-shaped curve.

Keywords: forward flight; kinematics; power requirement; fruitfly; insect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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