Experimental and numerical study of corrugated beetle wing

Unlike the bird wing, most of the insect wings have been constituted from the veins and membrane forming corrugated cross section. The effects of this corrugation shape on the aerodynamic performance are investigated by experimentally observing the corrugation cross section and flight mechanism and numerically simulating the flapping flight. Main vein thickness is measured to be around 500 ㎛, and meanwhile, the thickness of membrane is around 5㎛. The corrugation shape of cross section of the wing varies along the spanwise directions. The numerical simulations show that the corrugation cross section increases the vertical force allowing higher aerodynamic performance than elliptic wing in a case of forward.