Exploratory Structural Investigation of a Hawkmoth-Inspired MAV’s Thorax

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2012

Abstract

Manduca Sexta present excellent flight performances which make this insect an ideal candidate for bio-inspired engineered micro air vehicles. The actual insect presents an energetically very efficient thorax-wing flight system which needs to be fully understood for an effective design of artificial flying machines. This work discusses a preliminary finite element model which simulates the thorax-wing system and the muscles involved in the flapping motion. Both upstroke and downstroke conditions are statically analyzed with the application of load sets that simulate the contractions of the dorso-ventral and dorso-longitudinal muscles (indirect flight). Comparison with commercial software and experimental results is also presented and discussed.

Comments

The "Link to Full Text" on this page loads the open access article hosted at Sage Publications.

The article appears in International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, a Sage Gold Open Access journal.

DOI

10.1260/1756-8293.4.4.291

Source Publication

International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles

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