Dimensional analysis of spring-wing systems reveals performance metrics for resonant flapping-wing flight

TL;DR

This study combines experiments and simulations to analyze how elastic elements, damping, and system parameters influence the energetics and efficiency of resonant flapping-wing flight in biological and robotic systems.

Contribution

It introduces a non-dimensional framework and variables to generalize the understanding of spring-wing dynamics, accounting for damping, inertia, and elasticity effects.

Findings

Dynamic efficiency decreases with increasing inertia-to-aerodynamics ratio N.

Internal damping scales with N, affecting energy efficiency.

Resonance properties are characterized by new non-dimensional variables.

Abstract

Flapping-wing insects, birds, and robots are thought to offset the high power cost of oscillatory wing motion by using elastic elements for energy storage and return. Insects possess highly resilient elastic regions in their flight anatomy that may enable high dynamic efficiency. However, recent experiments highlight losses due to damping in the insect thorax that could reduce the benefit of those elastic elements. We performed experiments on, and simulations of a dynamically-scaled robophysical flapping model with an elastic element and biologically-relevant structural damping to elucidate the roles of body mechanics, aerodynamics, and actuation in spring-wing energetics. We measured oscillatory flapping wing dynamics and energetics subject to a range of actuation parameters, system inertia, and spring elasticity. To generalize these results, we derive the non-dimensional spring-wing equation of motion and present variables that describe the resonance properties of flapping systems: $N$, a measure of the relative influence of inertia and aerodynamics, and $\hat{K}$, the reduced stiffness. We show that internal damping scales with $N$, revealing that dynamic efficiency monotonically decreases with increasing $N$. Based on these results, we introduce a general framework for understanding the roles of internal damping, aerodynamic and inertial forces, and elastic structures within all spring-wing systems.