Year: 2003
Type: preprint
Abstract: Unlike a helicopter, an insect can, in theory, use both lift and drag to stay aloft. Here we show that a dragonfly uses mostly drag to hover by employing asymmetric up and down strokes. Computations of a family of strokes further show that using drag can be as efficient as using lift at the low Reynolds number regime appropriate for insects.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Wang, Z. Jane
Language: English
Subfield: Aerospace Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2136506902