Inflected wings in flight: Uniform flow of stresses makes strong and light wings for stable flight

Pezhman Mardanpour; Ehsan Izadpanahi; Shanae Powell; Siavash Rastkar; Adrian Bejan

doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110452

Inflected wings in flight: Uniform flow of stresses makes strong and light wings for stable flight

J Theor Biol. 2021 Jan 7:508:110452. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110452. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Authors

Pezhman Mardanpour¹, Ehsan Izadpanahi², Shanae Powell², Siavash Rastkar², Adrian Bejan³

Affiliations

¹ Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33174, USA. Electronic address: Pezhman.Mardanpour@FIU.edu.
² Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33174, USA.
³ Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0300, USA.

PMID: 32828843
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110452

Abstract

Flying animals morph and flex their wings during their flight. Their wings morph with the turbulent flow created around them. The wings of modern airplanes do not have this ability. In this study we show that the ability to flex the wings leads to greater stability (higher flutter speed), and that this is due to the more uniform distribution of stresses in the flexing wing. This way the flexing wing becomes the lightest per unit of flapping force, or the strongest per unit of weight.

Keywords: Design; Flow of stresses; Flutter; Inflected wing.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomechanical Phenomena
Flight, Animal*
Mechanical Phenomena
Models, Biological
Wings, Animal*