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Abstract Flying insects have a robust flight system that allows them to fly even when their forewings are damaged. The insect must adjust wingbeat kinematics to aerodynamically compensate for the loss of wing area. However, the mechanisms that allow insects with asynchronous flight muscle to adapt to wing damage are not well understood. Here, we investigated the phase and amplitude relationships between thorax deformation and flapping angle in tethered flying bumblebees subject to wing clipping and weighting. We used synchronized laser vibrometry and high-speed videography to measure thorax deformation and flapping angle, respectively. We found that changes in wing inertia did not affect thorax deformation amplitude but did influence wingbeat frequency. Increasing wing inertia increased flapping amplitude and caused a phase lag between thorax deformation and flapping angle, whereas decreasing wing inertia did not affect flapping amplitude and caused the flapping angle to lead thorax deformation. Our findings indicate that bumblebees adapt to wing damage by adjusting their wingbeat frequency rather than altering their wing stroke amplitude. Additionally, our results suggest that bumblebees operate near a wing-hinge-dominated resonant frequency, and that moments generated by steering muscles within the wing hinge influence the phase between thorax deformation and wing stroke nontrivially. These insights can inform the design of resilient, insect-inspired flapping-wing micro air vehicles.
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Real-time Wing Deformation Simulations for Flying Insects
Realistic simulation of the intricate wing deformations seen in flying insects not only deepens our comprehension of insect fight mechanics but also opens up numerous applications in fields such as computer animation and virtual reality. Despite its importance, this research area has been relatively under-explored due to the complex and diverse wing structures and the intricate patterns of deformation. This paper presents an efficient skeleton-driven model specifically designed to real-time simulate realistic wing deformations across a wide range of flying insects. Our approach begins with the construction of a virtual skeleton that accurately reflects the distinct morphological characteristics of individual insect species. This skeleton serves as the foundation for the simulation of the intricate deformation wave propagation often observed in wing deformations. To faithfully reproduce the bending effect seen in these deformations, we introduce both internal and external forces that act on the wing joints, drawing on periodic wing-beat motion and a simplified aerodynamics model. Additionally, we utilize mass- spring algorithms to simulate the inherent elasticity of the wings, helping to prevent excessive twisting. Through various simulation experiments, comparisons, and user studies, we demonstrate the effectiveness, robustness, and adaptability of our model.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2005430
- PAR ID:
- 10532349
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400705250
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 11
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- wing deformations aerodynamics models fying insects force based simulation deformation wave propagation
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Denver CO USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3641519.3657434
