Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings
The influence of flexibility on the flight of autorotating winged seedpods is examined through an experimental investigation of tumbling rectangular paper strips freely falling in air. Our results suggest the existence of a critical length above which the wing bends. We develop a theoretical model t...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Physical Society
2010
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58773 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7936-7256 |
| _version_ | 1811081887419990016 |
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| author | Tam, Daniel Bush, John W. M. Robitalle, Michael Arshad, Kudrolli |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics Tam, Daniel Bush, John W. M. Robitalle, Michael Arshad, Kudrolli |
| author_sort | Tam, Daniel |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The influence of flexibility on the flight of autorotating winged seedpods is examined through an experimental investigation of tumbling rectangular paper strips freely falling in air. Our results suggest the existence of a critical length above which the wing bends. We develop a theoretical model that demonstrates that this buckling is prompted by inertial forces associated with the tumbling motion, and yields a buckling criterion consistent with that observed. We further develop a reduced model for the flight dynamics of flexible tumbling wings that illustrates the effect of aeroelastic coupling on flight characteristics and rationalizes experimentally observed variations in the wing’s falling speed and range. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:53:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/58773 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:53:59Z |
| publishDate | 2010 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/587732022-09-27T22:42:12Z Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings Tam, Daniel Bush, John W. M. Robitalle, Michael Arshad, Kudrolli Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics Bush, John W. M. Tam, Daniel Bush, John W. M. The influence of flexibility on the flight of autorotating winged seedpods is examined through an experimental investigation of tumbling rectangular paper strips freely falling in air. Our results suggest the existence of a critical length above which the wing bends. We develop a theoretical model that demonstrates that this buckling is prompted by inertial forces associated with the tumbling motion, and yields a buckling criterion consistent with that observed. We further develop a reduced model for the flight dynamics of flexible tumbling wings that illustrates the effect of aeroelastic coupling on flight characteristics and rationalizes experimentally observed variations in the wing’s falling speed and range. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMR-0605664) 2010-09-30T13:43:28Z 2010-09-30T13:43:28Z 2010-05 2010-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0031-9007 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58773 Tam, Daniel, et al. "Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings." Physical Review Letters 104.18 (2010): 184504. © 2010 The American Physical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7936-7256 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.184504 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society APS |
| spellingShingle | Tam, Daniel Bush, John W. M. Robitalle, Michael Arshad, Kudrolli Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title | Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title_full | Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title_fullStr | Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title_short | Tumbling Dynamics of Passive Flexible Wings |
| title_sort | tumbling dynamics of passive flexible wings |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58773 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7936-7256 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tamdaniel tumblingdynamicsofpassiveflexiblewings AT bushjohnwm tumblingdynamicsofpassiveflexiblewings AT robitallemichael tumblingdynamicsofpassiveflexiblewings AT arshadkudrolli tumblingdynamicsofpassiveflexiblewings |