Influence of Microstructures on Aerodynamic Characteristics for Dragonfly Wing in Gliding Flight

In this paper, the functionalities of microstructures for dragonfly wing during gliding flight are investigated. Three dragonfly-mimic airfoil-shaped wings with hybrid structures were designed and fabricated as: flat wing, zigzag-edged wing and zigzag-edged wing with pillar structure. Based on the wind tunnel experiments, the zigzag-edged wing structure significantly reduces the drag force in the gliding flight. Moreover, the drag reduction is more effective on the combination of the surface pillar and zigzag-edged structure. In addition, the zigzag-edged wing structure has less influence of Karman vortex street, and the surface pillars reduce the frictional drag and stabilized the streamline in the lower vortex region. Overall, the microstructure of the dragonfly wing is an important element in the aerodynamic study. These findings can enhance the knowledge of insect-mimic wing structure and facilitate the application of Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) in the gliding flight.