Insect Wing Buckling Influences Stress and Stability During Collisions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Jankauski ◽  
Ryan Schwab ◽  
Cailin Casey ◽  
Andrew Mountcastle

Abstract Flapping insect wings frequently collide with vegetation and other obstacles during flight. Repeated collisions may irreversibly damage the insect wing, thereby compromising the insect’s ability to fly. Further, reaction torques caused by the collision may destabilize the insect and hinder its ability to maneuver. To mitigate the adverse effects of impact, some insect wings are equipped with a flexible joint called a “costal break.” The costal break buckles once it exceeds a critical angle, which is believed to improve flight stability and prevent irreversible wing damage. However, to our knowledge, there are no models to predict the dynamics of the costal break. Through this research, we develop a simple model of an insect wing with a costal break. The wing was modeled as two beams interconnected by a torsional spring, where the stiffness of the torsional spring instantaneously decreases once it has exceeded a critical angle. We conducted a series of static tests to approximate model parameters. Then, we used numerical simulation to estimate the peak stresses and reaction moments experienced by the wing during a collision. We found that costal break increased the wing’s natural frequency by about 50% compared to a homogeneous wing and thus reduced the stress associated with normal flapping. Buckling did not significantly affect peak stresses during collision. Joint buckling reduced the peak reaction moment by about 32%, suggesting that the costal break enhances flight stability.

Author(s):  
Masaki Fuchiwaki ◽  
Kazuhiro Tanaka

A typical example of the flow field around a moving elastic body is that around butterfly wings. Butterflies fly by skillfully controlling this flow field, and vortices are generated around their bodies. The motion of their elastic wings produces dynamic fluid forces by manipulating the flow field. For this reason, there has been increased academic interest in the flow field and dynamic fluid forces produced by butterfly wings. A number of recent studies have qualitatively and quantitatively examined the flow field around insect wings. In some such previous studies, the vortex ring or vortex loop formed on the wing was visualized. However, the characteristics of dynamic forces generated by the flapping insect wing are not yet sufficiently understood. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the characteristics of dynamic lift and thrust produced by the flapping butterfly wing and the relationship between the dynamic lift and thrust and the flow field around the butterfly. We conducted the dynamic lift and thrust measurements of a fixed flapping butterfly, Idea leuconoe, using a six-axes sensor. Moreover, two-dimensional PIV measurement was conducted in the wake of the butterfly. The butterfly produced dynamic lift in downward flapping which became maximum at a flapping angle of approximately 0.0 deg. At the same time, the butterfly produced negative dynamic thrust during downward flapping. The negative dynamic thrust was not produced hydrodynamically by a flapping butterfly wing because a jet was not formed in front of the butterfly. The negative dynamic thrust was the kicking force for jumping and the maximum of this kicking force was about 6.0 times as large as the weight. On the other hand, the butterfly produced dynamic thrust in upward flapping which was approximately 6.0 times as large as the weight of the butterfly. However, the attacking force by the abdomen of the butterfly was included in the dynamic thrust and we have not yet clarified quantitatively the dynamic thrust produced by the butterfly wing.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (40) ◽  
pp. 9905-9910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Hoffmann ◽  
Seth Donoughe ◽  
Kathy Li ◽  
Mary K. Salcedo ◽  
Chris H. Rycroft

Insect wings are typically supported by thickened struts called veins. These veins form diverse geometric patterns across insects. For many insect species, even the left and right wings from the same individual have veins with unique topological arrangements, and little is known about how these patterns form. We present a large-scale quantitative study of the fingerprint-like “secondary veins.” We compile a dataset of wings from 232 species and 17 families from the order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies), a group with particularly elaborate vein patterns. We characterize the geometric arrangements of veins and develop a simple model of secondary vein patterning. We show that our model is capable of recapitulating the vein geometries of species from other, distantly related winged insect clades.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Johns ◽  
Lisa Davis ◽  
Mark Jankauski

AbstractFlapping insect wings deform during flight. This deformation benefits the insect’s aerodynamic force production as well as energetic efficiency. However, it is challenging to measure wing displacement field in flying insects. Many points must be tracked over the wing’s surface to resolve its instantaneous shape. To reduce the number of points one is required to track, we propose a physics-based reconstruction method called System Equivalent Reduction Expansion Processes (SEREP) to estimate wing deformation and strain from sparse measurements. Measurement locations are determined using a Weighted Normalized Modal Displacement (NMD) method. We experimentally validate the reconstruction technique by flapping a paper wing from 5-9 Hz with 45° and measuring strain at three locations. Two measurements are used for the reconstruction and the third for validation. Strain reconstructions had a maximal error of 30% in amplitude. We extend this methodology to a more realistic insect wing through numerical simulation. We show that wing displacement can be estimated from sparse displacement or strain measurements, and that additional sensors spatially average measurement noise to improve reconstruction accuracy. This research helps overcome some of the challenges of measuring full-field dynamics in flying insects and provides a framework for strain-based sensing in insect-inspired flapping robots.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Courtney M. Clark-Hachtel ◽  
Yoshinori Tomoyasu

The origin of insect wings is a biological mystery that has fascinated scientists for centuries. Through extensive investigations performed across various fields, two possible wing origin tissues have been identified; a lateral outgrowth of the dorsal body wall (tergum) and ancestral proximal leg structures1,2. With each idea offering both strengths and weaknesses, these two schools of thought have been in an intellectual battle for decades without reaching a consensus3. Identification of tissues homologous to insect wings from linages outside of Insecta will provide pivotal information to resolve this conundrum. Here, through expression analyses and CRISPR/Cas9-based genome-editing in the crustacean, Parhyale hawaiensis, we show that a wing-like gene regulatory network (GRN) operates both in the crustacean terga and in the proximal leg segments, suggesting that (i) the evolution of a wing-like GRN precedes the emergence of insect wings, and (ii) that both of these tissues are equally likely to be crustacean wing homologs. Interestingly, the presence of two sets of wing homologs parallels previous findings in some wingless segments of insects, where wing serial homologs are maintained as two separate tissues4–7. This similarity provides crucial support for the idea that the wingless segments of insects indeed reflect an ancestral state for the tissues that gave rise to the insect wing, while the true insect wing represents a derived state that depends upon the contribution of two distinct tissues. These outcomes point toward a dual origin of insect wings, and thus provide a crucial opportunity to unify the two historically competing hypotheses on the origin of this evolutionarily monumental structure.


Author(s):  
YiHeng Wei ◽  
Yangquan Chen ◽  
Yingdong Wei ◽  
Xuefeng Zhang

Abstract Fractional order controllers become increasingly popular due to their versatility and superiority in various performance. However, the bottleneck in deploying these tools in practice is related to their implementation. Numerical approximations are usually employed in which the approximation of fractional differintegrator is a foundation. Generally, the following three identical equations always hold, i.e., $\frac{1}{s^\alpha}\frac{1}{s^{1-\alpha}} = \frac{1}{s}$, $s^\alpha \frac{1}{s^\alpha} = 1$ and $s^\alpha s^{1-\alpha} = s$. However, for the approximate models of fractional differintegrator $s^\alpha$, $\alpha\in(-1,0)\cup(0,1)$, there usually exist some conflicts on the mentioned equations, which might enlarge the approximation error or even cause fallacious in multiple orders occasion. To overcome the conflicts, this brief develops a piecewise approximate model and provides two procedures for designing the model parameters. The comparison with several existing methods shows that the proposed methods do not only satisfy the equalities but also achieve high approximation accuracy. From this, it is believed that this work can serve for simulation and realization of fractional order controllers more friendly.


Author(s):  
Chunyang Wang ◽  
Zhou Zhou ◽  
Rui Wang ◽  
Kelei Wang

The longitudinal flight stability of the ducted vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing UAV during the flight state of hovering and transition is studied. Firstly, based on the Blade-Element Momentum Theory (BEMT) and experimental data, a coaxial dual-rotor ducted aerodynamic model and a thrust ducted aerodynamic model based on characteristic cross-section calculations are established. The model parameters are identified according to the experimental data. Secondly, a UAV flight dynamics model with thrust duct deflection is established according to the six-degree-of-freedom equations. Finally, the case UAV was used to solve the longitudinal balance and stability analysis of hovering and transition state with the established model method, and compared with the hovering experimental results. The results show that the UAV flight dynamics model combined with the ducted dynamic model established in the article can accurately describe the longitudinal flight stability characteristics of this type of aircraft.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Awad A. Bakery ◽  
Wael Zakaria ◽  
OM Kalthum S. K. Mohamed

The generalized Gamma model has been applied in a variety of research fields, including reliability engineering and lifetime analysis. Indeed, we know that, from the above, it is unbounded. Data have a bounded service area in a variety of applications. A new five-parameter bounded generalized Gamma model, the bounded Weibull model with four parameters, the bounded Gamma model with four parameters, the bounded generalized Gaussian model with three parameters, the bounded exponential model with three parameters, and the bounded Rayleigh model with two parameters, is presented in this paper as a special case. This approach to the problem, which utilizes a bounded support area, allows for a great deal of versatility in fitting various shapes of observed data. Numerous properties of the proposed distribution have been deduced, including explicit expressions for the moments, quantiles, mode, moment generating function, mean variance, mean residual lifespan, and entropies, skewness, kurtosis, hazard function, survival function, r   th order statistic, and median distributions. The delivery has hazard frequencies that are monotonically increasing or declining, bathtub-shaped, or upside-down bathtub-shaped. We use the Newton Raphson approach to approximate model parameters that increase the log-likelihood function and some of the parameters have a closed iterative structure. Six actual data sets and six simulated data sets were tested to demonstrate how the proposed model works in reality. We illustrate why the Model is more stable and less affected by sample size. Additionally, the suggested model for wavelet histogram fitting of images and sounds is very accurate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (9) ◽  
pp. jeb215194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Rajabi ◽  
Jan-Henning Dirks ◽  
Stanislav N. Gorb

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fox ◽  
Andrew Carter

Thermochronometry is widely used to track exhumation, the motion of rock towards Earth’s surface, and to gain fresh insights into geodynamic and geomorphic processes. Applications require models to reconstruct a rock’s cooling history as it is exhumed from higher temperatures at depth within the crust to cooler shallower levels and eventually Earth’s surface. Thermochronometric models are dependent on the predictable accumulation and the temperature-dependent loss of radiogenic daughter products measured in the laboratory. However, there are many geologically reasonable scenarios that will yield very similar thermochronometric ages. This similarity hinders finding the actual scenario, so instead an approximate model is sought. Finding suitable model parameters is a potentially ill-posed inverse problem that requires making decisions about how best to extract information from the data and how to combine data to leverage redundant information and reduce the impact of data noise. Often these decisions lead to differences in conclusions of studies and such discrepancies have led to heated debates. Here, we discuss debates centred on the use of a variety of modelling approaches and potential sources of biases that lead to differences in the predicted exhumation rate. We also provide some suggestions about future research paths that will help resolve these debates.


Author(s):  
Heather Bruce

Understanding how novel structures arise is a central question in evolution. The carapace of the waterflea Daphnia is a bivalved “cape” of exoskeleton that surrounds the animal, and has been proposed to be one of many novel structures that arose through repeated co-option of genes that also pattern insect wings. To determine whether the Daphnia carapace is a novel structure, the expression of pannier, the Iroquois gene aurucan, and vestigial are compared between Daphnia, Parhyale, and Tribolium. The results suggest that the Daphnia carapace did not arise by cooption, but instead represents an elongated ancestral exite (lateral lobe or plate) that emerges from a proximal leg segment that was incorporated into the Daphnia body wall. The Daphnia carapace therefore appears to be homologous to the Parhyale tergal plate and the insect wing. In addition, the vg-positive region that gives rise to the Daphnia carapace also appears to be present in Parhyale and Tribolium, which do not form a carapace. Thus, rather than a novel structure resulting from gene co-option, the carapace appears to have arisen from an ancient, conserved developmental field that persists in a cryptic state in other arthropod lineages, but in Daphnia became elaborated into the carapace. Cryptic persistence of serially homologous developmental fields may thus be a general solution for the origin of many novel structures.


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