Wing planform effects on the aerodynamic performance of insect-like revolving wings

Simple revolving wing experiments provide a useful means to simulate the translational aerodynamics and measure the lift and drag characteristics of insect-like wing planforms. In this study, nine wings based on the beta chord distribution are employed. The wing planforms are varied in a systematic fashion to represent three aspect ratio and three area centroid location values. The steady lift and drag characteristics are measured for these wings at Reynolds number of 10⁴ representing an upper bound for insect flight operational regime. It is shown that that the measured lift and drag coefficients reasonably follow the trends from the simple normal force theoretical model. Wing area centroid location showed greater effect on the measured force coefficients than the aspect ratio. The general trend found is that lift coefficient values will increase with the increase in both area centroid location and aspect ratio. Peak drag coefficient values still showed an increasing trend with the increase of area centroid location, but showed a decreasing trend with the increase in aspect ratio.