Clear Delineation of Added-Mass and Vortex- Induced Forces Generated by Flapping Wing

The force and moment experienced by a body immersed in a fluid depends strongly on its motion (trajectory, acceleration, rotation etc) as well as nearby flow structures such as vortices and boundary layers. A number of past studies have attempted to delineate the relative contribution of various components such as added-mass, attached and shed vortices, and viscous stresses on the total force produced by biological and bioinspired flapping wings. In the current study, we extend a previous analysis (M. S. Howe, 1995) to more precisely delineate the contributions of each of these components to the total force. The analysis is applied via high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics models and we use this analysis to shed light on the various flow mechanisms and features that are responsible for lift generation in insects over a range of scales.