Cicada: a Heavy but Agile Flyer

TL;DR

This study investigates the wing kinematics and aerodynamics of cicadas during flight, revealing mechanisms that could inform the design of large-payload micro air vehicles.

Contribution

It provides detailed 3D wing motion data and CFD analysis of cicada flight, filling a gap in understanding their lift generation and agility.

Findings

Cicadas generate higher lift than other insects.

Wing deformation plays a key role in flight performance.

CFD results match observed wing kinematics.

Abstract

"Cicada: a Heavy but Agile Flyer" is a fluid dynamic video submitted to Gallery of Fluid Motion in APS-DFD 2011. Comparing to other insects, cicadas can generate much higher lift to overcome their large body weight. The hidden mechanism may help in designing a Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) to carry large payloads. However, it is lack of literatures in discussing how cicadas use their wings to accomplish various flights. In this work, a high-speed photogrammetry system and 3D surface reconstruction technology are used to reveal cicada wing kinematics and deformation during a freely forward flight. The aerodynamic performance is studied using in-house immerse boundary method based Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) solver.