Rotational accelerations stabilize leading edge vortices on….pdfVIP

2705 The Journal of Experimental Biology 212, 2705-2719 Published by The Company of Biologists 2009 doi:10.1242/jeb.022269 Rotational accelerations stabilize leading edge vortices on revolving fly wings 1, 2 David Lentink * and Michael H. Dickinson 1Experimental Zoology Group, Wageningen University, 6709 PG Wageningen, The Netherlands and 2Bioengineering and Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA *Author for correspondence (e-mail: david.lentink@wur.nl) Accepted 19 April 2009 SUMMARY The aerodynamic performance of hovering insects is largely explained by the presence of a stably attached leading edge vortex (LEV) on top of their wings. Although LEVs have been visualized on real, physically modeled, and simulated insects, the physical mechanisms responsible for their stability are poorly understood. To gain fundamental insight into LEV stability on flapping fly wings we expressed the Navier–Stokes equations in a rotating frame of reference attached to the wing’s surface. Using these equations we show that LEV dynamics on flapping wings are governed by three terms: angular, centripetal and Coriolis acceleration. Our analysis for hovering conditions shows that angular acceleration is proportional to the inverse of dimensionless stroke amplitude, whereas Coriolis and centripetal acceleration are proportional to the inverse of the