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Flapping is an energy-demanding mode of fast animal locomotion that requires physiology, wing kinematics, and unsteady mechanics to work in unison. The trailing flow or wake is a signature of flapping mechanics, which makes it a popular candidate for visualization and analysis. While there are multiple ways to analyze wakes, we need a general framework to ensure utility of the analysis in bio-inspired flapping flight. In this article, we develop a theoretical framework to analyze the transport phenomena of wakes. To illustrate, we apply the theory to a two-dimensional modeled hovering flight comprising engineered rigid flapping plates, which vary in aspect ratio, wingbeat frequency, and the use of winglet. The results potentially explain certain observations in natural flight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, flow field around rigid flat plate wings executing main flapping motion has been studied using phaselocked two-dimensional particle image velocimetry measurements. Experiments have been conducted in water as a fluid medium for an asymmetric upper-lower stroke single degree of freedom main flapping motion. Two different aspect ratio (1.5 and 1.0) rectangular wings at 1.5 and 2.0 Hz flapping frequency in hovering flight mode (advance ratio, J=0), zero wing pitch angle, and chord-based Reynolds number of the order of 104 have been studied. Velocity field and vorticity field with λ2 criterion information have been obtained for the complete stroke in great detail to reveal the minute aspects of flow dynamics. The flow features during the downstroke and upstroke have been observed to be consistent for all four cases investigated. The predominant characteristic of the flow during downstroke and upstroke has been referred to as vortex filamentation and fragmentation phenomena. Quantities such as circulation, rate of strain, rate of rotation, and enstrophy have been studied to identity the effect of minor change in aspect ratio and flapping frequency. It is found that for higher aspect ratio wing hyperbolic behavior is predominant except for end of downstroke and beginning of upstroke where elliptic behavior is observed. For lower aspect ratio, wing elliptic behavior is predominant except for end of upstroke and beginning of downstroke where hyperbolic behavior is seen. The hyperbolic behavior became stronger at higher frequency. From enstrophy distribution it is evident that higher frequencies play a more dominant role than aspect ratio in determining the budget. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]