Two-dimensional simulation of a porous insect wing at low Reynolds numbers (2012)

Undergraduates: Audrey Ann Low, Steve Harenberg, Jonathan Reis

Faculty Advisor: Laura Miller
Department: Mathematics

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We used the immersed boundary method to model a two-dimensional representation of a small porous insect wing, motivated by the fringed wing of the thrips, an insect of about a millimeter in size. The simulations were run on Reynolds numbers 1, 2, ... , 10 in increments of 2, and 10, 20, ... , 100 in increments of 10, outputting for each a vector field representing the velocity of the fluid around and through the wing. For Reynolds numbers 10, with porosities of 0 and of 10^(-7), the angle of attack was varied between 0 and 90 degrees in increments of 9 degrees. For the rest, angle of attack was kept at 45 degrees while porosity was varied between 10^(-5) and 10^(-9), as well as 0. We found that for a narrow range of values, lift and drag forces rapidly decrease as porosity increases. This suggests that the porous structure of the wing may reduce the forces required for wing clapping and rotation.