Jialei Song

Three-dimensional flow and lift characteristics of a hovering ruby-throated hummingbird.

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation is performed for a ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) in hovering flight. Realistic wing kinematics are adopted in the numerical model by reconstructing the wing motion from high-speed imaging data of the bird. Lift history and the three-dimensional flow pattern around the wing in full stroke cycles are captured in the simulation. Significant asymmetry is observed for lift production within a stroke cycle. In particular, the downstroke generates about 2.5 times as much vertical force as the upstroke, a result that confirms the estimate based on the measurement of the circulation in a previous experimental study. Associated with lift production is the similar power imbalance between the two half strokes. Further analysis shows that in addition to the angle of attack, wing velocity and surface area, drag-based force and wing–wake interaction also contribute significantly to the lift asymmetry. Though the wing–wake interaction could be beneficial for lift enhancement, the isolated stroke simulation shows that this benefit is buried by other opposing effects, e.g. presence of downwash. The leading-edge vortex is stable during the downstroke but may shed during the upstroke. Finally, the full-body simulation result shows that the effects of wing–wing interaction and wing–body interaction are small.

Wing-pitching mechanism of hovering Ruby-throated hummingbirds.

In hovering flight, hummingbirds reverse the angle of attack of their wings through pitch reversal in order to generate aerodynamic lift during both downstroke and upstroke. In addition, the wings may pitch during translation to further enhance lift production. It is not yet clear whether these pitching motions are caused by the wing inertia or actuated through the musculoskeletal system. Here we perform a computational analysis of the pitching dynamics by incorporating the realistic wing kinematics to determine the inertial effects. The aerodynamic effect is also included using the pressure data from a previous three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulation of a hovering hummingbird. The results show that like many insects, pitch reversal of the hummingbird is, to a large degree, caused by the wing inertia. However, actuation power input at the root is needed in the beginning of pronation to initiate a fast pitch reversal and also in mid-downstroke to enable a nose-up pitching motion for lift enhancement. The muscles on the wing may not necessarily be activated for pitching of the distal section. Finally, power analysis of the flapping motion shows that there is no requirement for substantial elastic energy storage or energy absorption at the shoulder joint.

Comparison of CFD and quasi-steady analysis of hovering aerodynamics for a Ruby-throated hummingbird

A high-fidelity CFD model was developed previously by us to simulate aerodynamics of a hovering Ruby-throated hummingbird. In this work we utilize a quasi-steady model to represent the aerodynamics based on the same realistic wing kinematics as used in the CFD study, and the goals are: 1) to investigate to what extent the complex flow physics might be described by the greatly simplified model; 2) to separately quantify the forces from the translational, rotational and acceleration effects using the quasi-steady model. The comparison shows that after calibration against the CFD results of a revolving wing, the quasi-steady model is able to predict fairly well lift production but fails to capture oscillations of drag. The downstroke-upstroke asymmetry and the drag-based effects are generally consistent with those observed in the CFD study. Further analysis shows that that translational force dominates the force production. However, the rotational force is also significant and interestingly, it peaks during mid-stroke rather than toward end of stroke when the wing starts to pronate or supinate.

Hydrodynamics of larval fish quick turning: A computational study

A three-dimensional fluid–body interaction model was established to study the hydrodynamics of larval fish at a quick start with a turning angle of approximately 80°. The bending curves of the larval fish were attained by extracting the middle line of fish snapshots from a previously published paper. The fluid–body interaction was implemented to empower the self-propelling function of the larval fish. In this study, the swimmer’s kinematics of the body as well as hydrodynamics at preparatory and propulsive stages of the larval fish were extensively analysed. It shows that during the preparatory stage, the larval fish produces a significant force against the escaping direction. Nevertheless, this force leads to a large turning torque, helping to accomplish a quick turning. During the propulsive stage, the force increases quickly in the escape direction, resulting in a large velocity for the escape. The characteristics of body motion and the flow field are consistent with the previous observation on adult fish: the bimodal mode on velocity and tangential acceleration and three jets of fluids. In addition, the research also reveals that the forces generated at anterior and posterior parts of the larval fish generally point to the opposite directions at both preparatory and propulsive strokes of C-start.