The proposed research is a computational study of insect flight, a problem which has been studied mostly by experimental means heretofore. Unlike aerodynamics of conventional wings, the present problem deals with flow over flexible wings at low Reynolds numbers. It is always unsteady, involves simultaneous generation of lift and thrust by the wing, and strong interactions between the large vortices shed from the leading edge and the rest of the wing. The PI proposes to carry out the simulation by using the Submerged Boundary Method and vortex dynamics models. Successful methods developed for biomimetics will be useful for simulating aerodynamics of micro air vehicles.
