Meeting Abstract

64.4  Saturday, Jan. 5  Flight with Winglets in Stick Insects ZENG, Y*; NUNNS, H; DUDLEY, H; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley dreavoniz@berkeley.edu

The stick insects (Insecta: Phasmatodea) exhibit remarkable variation in wing size and flapping kinematics across a wide spectrum of aerial performance, from flapping flight to complete flightlessness. How species with intermediate-sized wings fly is thus key for understanding the transition between flapping flight and flightlessness in nature. We compared different forward flights in both transport efficiency and details of wing and body kinematics, and used conservative models to address the aerodynamic output of different wings. Our analyses showed that the average wing force production with respect to body weight is important for determining the incline angle of equilibrium flight. Incipient flapping in intermediate-sized wings show reduced lift generation and power efficiency than flapping of fully developed wings. Furthermore, we modeled the distribution of material properties on wings based on experimental measurements from wings of selected species, and used computational simulation to explain the major types of dynamic deformation observed in flight performances characteristic of different sized wings.