Jin Hwan Ko

Wetting Characteristics of Insect Wing Surfaces

Biological tiny structures have been observed on many kinds of surfaces such as lotus leaves, which have an effect on the coloration of Morpho butterflies and enhance the hydrophobicity of natural surfaces. We investigated the micro-scale and nano-scale structures on the wing surfaces of insects and found that the hierarchical multiple roughness structures help in enhancing the hydrophobicity. After examining 10 orders and 24 species of flying Pterygotan insects, we found that micro-scale and nano-scale structures typically exist on both the upper and lower wing surfaces of flying insects. The tiny structures such as denticle or setae on the insect wings enhance the hydrophobicity, thereby enabling the wings to be cleaned more easily. And the hydrophobic insect wings undergo a transition from Cassie to Wenzel states at pitch/size ratio of about 20. In order to examine the wetting characteristics on a rough surface, a biomimetic surface with micro-scale pillars is fabricated on a silicon wafer, which exhibits the same behavior as the insect wing, with the Cassie-Wenzel transition occurring consistently around a pitch/width value of 20.

Effects of corrugation of the dragonfly wing on gliding performance

We investigate the aerodynamic performance of the dragonfly wing, which has cross-sectional corrugation, via a static 2-dimensional unsteady simulation. Computational conditions are Re=150, 1400, and 10,000 with angles of attack ranging from 0 degrees to 40 degrees . From the computational results, lift coefficients are increased by the wing corrugation at all Reynolds number. However, the corrugation has little influence on the drag coefficients. The flows such as vortex in the valley of corrugation and near the edge of the corrugation are locally different from those of an elliptic wing. However, such local flows have little influence on the time averaged wing performance. From the numerical experiment presented in this study, it is determined that suction side corrugations of the wing have very little influence on increase of the lift coefficient at a positive angle of attack.

Improvement of the aerodynamic performance by wing flexibility and elytra--hind wing interaction of a beetle during forward flight.

In this work, the aerodynamic performance of beetle wing in free-forward flight was explored by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) simulation with measured wing kinematics. It is shown from the CFD results that twist and camber variation, which represent the wing flexibility, are most important when determining the aerodynamic performance. Twisting wing significantly increased the mean lift and camber variation enhanced the mean thrust while the required power was lower than the case when neither was considered. Thus, in a comparison of the power economy among rigid, twisting and flexible models, the flexible model showed the best performance. When the positive effect of wing interaction was added to that of wing flexibility, we found that the elytron created enough lift to support its weight, and the total lift (48.4 mN) generated from the simulation exceeded the gravity force of the beetle (47.5 mN) during forward flight.

Morphological effect of a scallop shell on a flapping-type tidal stream generator

Inspired by nature, flapping-type tidal stream generators have been introduced in recent years. The improvement in their power generation ability is known to be a critical factor in the success of these generators. So far, corrugation and camber observed in flying insects and swimming animals are known to enhance the performance of a flapping-type propulsive system. In this study, we explore the effect of corrugation and camber in a system that mimics a scallop shell in terms of its ability to extract flow energy through a two-dimensional Navier-Stokes simulation. The simulations show that the size and the activity of the leading edge vortex are strongly affected by the morphological factors of the mimicked foils, the effects of which are then advantageous in terms of the power efficiency of the flapping-type tidal stream generator. Eventually, an optimal mimicked foil, as suggested based on the morphological effects, would be a good alternative type of foil with a typical section with regard to the hydrodynamic performance and structural properties of tidal stream generators.

Numerical investigation of the aerodynamic characteristics of a hovering Coleopteran insect.

The aerodynamic characteristics of the Coleopteran beetle species Epilachna quadricollis, a species with flexible hind wings and stiff elytra (fore wings), are investigated in terms of hovering flight. The flapping wing kinematics of the Coleopteran insect are modeled through experimental observations with a digital high-speed camera and curve fitting from an ideal harmonic kinematics model. This model numerically simulates flight by estimating a cross section of the wing as a two-dimensional elliptical plane. There is currently no detailed study on the role of the elytron or how the elytron-hind wing interaction affects aerodynamic performance. In the case of hovering flight, the relatively small vertical or horizontal forces generated by the elytron suggest that the elytron makes no significant contribution to aerodynamic force.

How Could Beetle's Elytra Support Their Own Weight during Forward Flight?

The aerodynamic role of the elytra during a beetle’s flapping motion is not well-elucidated, although it is well-recognized that the evolution of elytra has been a key in the success of coleopteran insects due to their protective function. An experimental study on wing kinematics reveals that for almost concurrent flapping with the hind wings, the flapping angle of the elytra is 5 times smaller than that of the hind wings. Then, we explore the aerodynamic forces on elytra in free forward flight with and without an effect of elytron-hind wing interaction by three-dimensional numerical simulation. The numerical results show that vertical force generated by the elytra without interaction is not sufficient to support even its own weight. However, the elytron-hind wing interaction improves the vertical force on the elytra up to 80%; thus, the total vertical force could fully support its own weight. The interaction slightly increases the vertical force on the hind wind by 6% as well.

Effect of Wing Twisting on Aerodynamic Performance of Flapping Wing System

In this paper, a simple but effective design for implementing a negative wing twist in a beetle-mimicking wing system is presented. The effectiveness of the design in terms of force generation and power consumption is confirmed by both experiment and calculation. An unsteady blade-element-theory model is used to estimate the aerodynamic forces produced by two different wing kinematics of a flapping-wing system. The model was first validated with the measurement data and two three-dimensional computational-fluid-dynamics results from the literature. The difference between the estimated average lift and the measured lift is 5.6%, which proves that the unsteady blade-element-theory model provides reasonable aerodynamic force estimation. The time history of the current estimation is also close to the measured data and is in between the two computational-fluid-dynamics results. The forces generated by the flapping wings with and without wing twist are estimated using the unsteady blade-element theory to invest...

Experimental and numerical study of a dual configuration for a flapping tidal current generator.

In this study, we conduct experimental and consecutive numerical analyses of a flapping tidal current generator with a mirror-type dual configuration with front-swing and rear-swing flappers. An experimental analysis of a small-scale prototype is conducted in a towing tank, and a numerical analysis is conducted by means of two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations with an in-house code. An experimental study with a controller to determine the target arm angle shows that the resultant arm angle is dependent on the input arm angle, the frequency, and the applied load, while a high pitch is obtained simply with a high input arm angle. Through a parametric analysis conducted while varying these factors, a high applied load and a high input arm angle were found to be advantageous. Moreover, the optimal reduced frequency was found to be 0.125 in terms of the power extraction. In consecutive numerical investigations with the kinematics selected from the experiments, it was found that a rear-swing flapper contributes to the total amount of power more than a front-swing flapper with a distance of two times the chord length and with a 90° phase difference between the two. The high contribution stems from the high power generated by the rear-swing flapper, which mimics the tail fin movement of a dolphin along a flow, compared to a plunge system or a front-swing system, which mimics the tail fin movement of a dolphin against a flow. It is also due to the fact that the shed vorticities of the front-swing flapper slightly affect negatively or even positively the power performance of the rear-swing system at a given distance and phase angle.

Micro/nanofabrication for a realistic beetle wing with a superhydrophobic surface

In keeping with the high interest in micro air vehicles, microfabrication technologies have been developed in an attempt to mimic insect wings via a membrane-vein structure. In this work, we present microfabrication techniques that mimic a beetle wing to construct a realistic vein-membrane structure. Full microfabrication processes as well as sophisticated manipulations are introduced for constructing a realistic artificial wing whose key morphological and mechanical parameters can be achieved close to those of the real wing. Secondly, for wing loading reduction whenever moist air is present, we successfully fabricated superhydrophobic nanopillar forests by conventional nanofabrication techniques, such as ion beam and heat treatments. The creation of the nanopillar forests, which exist on the surface of leaves and insect wings, allowed lowering the dispersive component in a hydrophobic material, and the clustered nanopillars enhanced water repellency.

Two- and Three-Dimensional Simulations of Beetle Hind Wing Flapping during Free Forward Flight

Aerodynamic characteristic of the beetle, Trypoxylus dichotomus, which has a pair of elytra (forewings) and hind wings, is numerically investigated. Based on the experimental results of wing kinematics, two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamic simulations were carried out to reveal aerodynamic performance of the hind wing. The roles of the spiral Leading Edge Vortex (LEV) and the spanwise flow were clarified by comparing 2D and 3D simulations. Mainly due to pitching down of chord line during downstroke in highly inclined stroke plane, relatively high averaged thrust was produced in the free forward flight of the beetle. The effects of the local corrugation and the camber variation were also investigated for the beetle’s hind wings. Our results show that the camber variation plays a significant role in improving both lift and thrust in the flapping. On the other hand, the local corrugation pattern has no significant effect on the aerodynamic force due to large angle of attack during flapping.