• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.729-736
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• 2009

In order to understand flow characteristics and flight mechanism of hummingbird's flapping flight, two-dimensional numerical analysis is carried out on the flapping motion of hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus. Hummingbird's flapping wing motion is realistically modeled from wind tunnel experimental data to perform numerical analysis. Numerical simulation shows that, as freestream velocity changes, wing trajectory is also adjusted and it substantially affects lift and thrust generation mechanism. According to this tendency, flight domain is separated as "low speed" and "high speed" regime, and each flight domain is studied for physical understanding. As a result, the lift generation during downstroke can be explained by the well-known effects, such as leading edge vortex effect, delayed stall, wake capture and so on. In addition, the lift generation during upstroke, the unique character of hummingbird, is also examined by detailed flow analysis. The thrust generation mechanism is investigated by examining the hummingbird's wing bone structure, vortex generation pattern and the resulting pressure gradient.