spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Walker, J. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Walker, J. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?
The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 3783-3792 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Rotational lift: something different or more of the same?

Jeffrey A. Walker

Department of Biology, University of Southern Maine, 96 Falmouth St, Portland, ME 04103, USA

(e-mail: walker{at}usm.maine.edu)

Accepted 16 September 2002

This paper addresses the question, do the rotational forces in the hovering fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster reflect something different (the Magnus effect) or more of the same (circulatory-and-attached-vortex force)? The results of an unsteady blade-element model using empirically derived force coefficients from translating (root-oscillating) wings are compared with recent results derived from both the measured forces on a dynamically scaled Drosophila wing and the computational fluid dynamic (CFD)-modeled forces on a virtual Drosophila wing. The behavior of the forces in all three models during wing rotation supports the hypothesis that rotational lift is not a novel aerodynamic mechanism but is caused by the same fluid-dynamic mechanism that occurs during wing translation. A comparison of the unsteady model with a quasi-steady model that employs empirically derived rotational coefficients further supports the hypothesis that rotational forces are more of the same. Finally, the overall similarity of the results between the unsteady model, the physical wing model and the CFD model suggests that the unsteady model can be used to explore the performance consequences of kinematic variation and to investigate locomotor control in freely moving animals.

Key words: unsteady aerodynamics, rotational circulation, delayed stall, Magnus effect, attached vortex lift, hovering, Drosophila flight


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J R Soc InterfaceHome page
S. M. Walker, A. L. R. Thomas, and G. K. Taylor
Deformable wing kinematics in free-flying hoverflies
J R Soc Interface, January 6, 2010; 7(42): 131 - 142.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2002