Insect-scale flapping wing flight vehicles can conduct environmental monitoring, disaster assessment, mapping, positioning and security in complex and challenging surroundings. To develop bio-inspired flight vehicles, systematic probing based on the particular category of flight vehicles is needed. This Element addresses the aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, geometry, stability and dynamics of flexible flapping wings in the insect flight regime. The authors highlight distinct features and issues, contrast aerodynamic stability between rigid and flexible wings, present the implications of the wing-aspect ratio, and use canonical models and dragonflies to elucidate scientific insight as well as technical capabilities of bio-inspired design.

This is an ideal book for graduate students and researchers interested in the aerodynamics, structural dynamics and flight dynamics of small birds, bats and insects, as well as of micro air vehicles (MAVs), which present some of the richest problems intersecting science and engineering. The agility and spectacular flight performance of natural flyers, thanks to their flexible, deformable wing structures, as well as to outstanding wing, tail and body coordination, is particularly significant. To design and build MAVs with performance comparable to natural flyers, it is essential that natural flyers' combined flexible structural dynamics and aerodynamics are adequately understood. The primary focus of this book is to address the recent developments in flapping wing aerodynamics. This book extends the work presented in Aerodynamics of Low Reynolds Number Flyers (Shyy et al. 2008).

Low Reynolds number aerodynamics is important to a number of natural and man-made flyers. Birds, bats, and insects have been of interest to biologists for years, and active study in the aerospace engineering community, motivated by interest in micro air vehicles (MAVs), has been increasing rapidly. The primary focus of this book is the aerodynamics associated with fixed and flapping wings. The book consider both biological flyers and MAVs, including a summary of the scaling laws-which relate the aerodynamics and flight characteristics to a flyer's sizing on the basis of simple geometric and dynamics analyses, structural flexibility, laminar-turbulent transition, airfoil shapes, and unsteady flapping wing aerodynamics. The interplay between flapping kinematics and key dimensionless parameters such as the Reynolds number, Strouhal number, and reduced frequency is highlighted. The various unsteady lift enhancement mechanisms are also addressed, including leading-edge vortex, rapid pitch-up and rotational circulation, wake capture, and clap-and-fling.

Many of the significant issues in fluid dynamics occur at interfaces, that is, at the boundaries between differing fluids or between fluids and solids. These issues are important in areas ranging from aircraft flight, to the flow of blood in the heart, to chemical vapour deposition. The subject is an area of active research and development, owing to improved analytical, experimental, and computational techniques. This book describes research and applications in interfacial fluid dynamics and stability. It is organized around five topics: Benard and thermocapillary instabilities, shear and pressure induced instabilities, waves and dispersions, multiphase systems, and complex flows. Chapters have been contributed by internationally recognized experts, both theoreticians and experimentalists. Because of the range and importance of topics discussed, this book will interest a broad audience of graduate students and researchers in mechanical, aerospace, materials, and chemical engineering, as well as in applied mathematics and physics.

Low Reynolds number aerodynamics is important to a number of natural and man-made flyers. Birds, bats, and insects have been of interest to biologists for years, and active study in the aerospace engineering community, motivated by interest in micro air vehicles (MAVs), has been increasing rapidly. The primary focus of this book is the aerodynamics associated with fixed and flapping wings. The book consider both biological flyers and MAVs, including a summary of the scaling laws-which relate the aerodynamics and flight characteristics to a flyer's sizing on the basis of simple geometric and dynamics analyses, structural flexibility, laminar-turbulent transition, airfoil shapes, and unsteady flapping wing aerodynamics. The interplay between flapping kinematics and key dimensionless parameters such as the Reynolds number, Strouhal number, and reduced frequency is highlighted. The various unsteady lift enhancement mechanisms are also addressed, including leading-edge vortex, rapid pitch-up and rotational circulation, wake capture, and clap-and-fling.

Complex fluid flows are encountered widely in nature, in living beings and in engineering practice. These flows often involve both geometric and dynamic complexity and present problems that are difficult to analyse because of their wide range of length and time scales, as well as their geometric configuration. This book describes some computational techniques and modelling strategies for analysing and predicting complex transport phenomena. It summarizes advances in the context of a pressure-based algorithm. Among methods discussed are discretization schemes for treating convection and pressure, parallel computing, multigrid methods, and composite, multiblock techniques. With respect to physical modelling, the book addresses issues of turbulence closure and multiscale, multiphase transport from an engineering viewpoint. Both fundamental and practical issues are considered, along with the relative merits of competing approaches. Numerous examples are given throughout the text. Mechanical, aerospace, chemical and materials engineers can use the techniques presented in this book to tackle important, practical problems more effectively.

Interfacial fluid dynamics is important in areas ranging from the flight of an aircraft to the flow of blood in the heart, and an area of active research and development owing to improved analytical, experimental, and computational techniques. This book describes the latest methods and applications in the field. Written by an internationally recognized panel of experts in both theory and experimentation, coverage is organized around five topics: Benard and thermocapillary instabilities, shear and pressure induced instabilities, waves and dispersions, multiphase systems, and complex flows. This comprehensive volume will interest a broad audience of graduate students, faculty, and researchers in mechanical, aerospace, materials, and chemical engineering, as well as in applied mathematics and physics.

This book describes some newly developed computational techniques and modeling strategies for analyzing and predicting complex transport phenomena. It summarizes advances in the context of a pressure-based algorithm and discusses methods such as discretization schemes for treating convection and pressure, parallel computing, multigrid methods, and composite, multiblock techniques. The final chapter is devoted to practical applications that illustrate the advantages of various numerical and physical tools. The authors provide numerous examples throughout the text.

Practical applications and examples highlight this treatment of computational modeling for handling complex flowfields. The author draws upon personal research to address both macroscopic and microscopic features. A reference for researchers and graduate students of many backgrounds, it also functions as a text for learning essential computation elements. 1994 edition.

This advanced-level text describes several computational techniques that can be applied to a variety of problems in thermo-fluid physics, multi-phase flow, and applied mechanics involving moving flow boundaries. Step-by-step discussions of numerical procedures include examples that employ algorithms to solve problems. 1990 edition.