Fig. 3. Wing kinematics. The figure illustrates the parameters of the left
forewing; those of the other three wings are defined by the same way. (A)
Definition of flapping angle
. Point B1 represents the wingbase of the
left forewing, point T1 the wingtip of that. The line B1-T1 denotes the
leading edge of the wing. The stroke plane
is defined by three points:
the wingbase B1, and the wingtip at the maximum and minimum angular positions
(T1H and T1L) in a flapping cycle based on the local
body-centered coordinate system. (Note that the stroke plane of the left wing
is generally different from that of the right wing without any assumption of
kinematic symmetry, i.e. the stroke planes with respect to the left and right
wing are not in one plane.) The line L1 represents the intersection of the
plane X'O'Y' and the stroke plane.
The flapping angle
is defined as the angular position of the wing in
the stroke plane, measured from dorsal reversal (start of downstroke) to
ventral reversal (start of upstroke).
=0 for the leading edge in the
plane X'O'Y'. (B) Definition of the
angle of attack, the torsional angle and camber deformation. The plane
, which is normal to the leading edge and at a spanwise position of 50%
of the total wing length, is defined as the mid-span chord plane. The
intersection arch of the wing surface and the plane
is the mid-span
arch
. The mid-span chord vector MN is corresponding to the arch
, whose direction definition is from the wing trailing edge
(M) to leading edge (N). The line L is the
intersection of the plane
and the stroke plane
, which denotes the
tangent of the wing's trajectory. The line L' is the
perpendicular of the line L. The angle of attack
is defined
as the included angle between the vector MN and the line L and
the torsional angle
is defined as the included angle between the vector
MN and the line L'. Note that
and
are
complementary angles. When MN
L,
=0;
=+90°
(if downstroke) or
=-90° (if upstroke). The two-dimensional
coordinate system (o', x', y') is established in
the plane
with the x-direction from N to M,
the y-direction from the lower surface to the upper surface of the
wing and the origin in the leading edge. The camber deformation [UNK] is
defined as the ratio of the maximum arch rise Hmax to the
mid-span chord length
MN|.