@Article{icces.2023.09892,
AUTHOR = {Xueguang Meng, Zengshuang Chen,
 Yuxin Xie, Gang Chen},
TITLE = {Effects of Unequal Individual Spacing on the Aerodynamic Performance  of Three Flapping Wings in Tandem},
JOURNAL = {The International Conference on Computational \& Experimental Engineering and Sciences},
VOLUME = {27},
YEAR = {2023},
NUMBER = {4},
PAGES = {1--5},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/icces/v27n4/55212},
ISSN = {1933-2815},
ABSTRACT = {Many species generally choose highly organized movements to gain more performance advantages rather 
than alone in the animal world, such as V-formation and line formation in birds. Understanding the 
aerodynamic characteristics and flow variation of multi-flapping wings in formation flight could be applied 
to the formation design of new bionic flapping-wing aircraft. In this paper, the effects of unequal individual 
spacing on the aerodynamic performance and flow mechanism of three-dimensional three-flapping wings 
flying in tandem formation are investigated numerically at a low Reynolds number. The simulations include 
small and large spacings, as well as cases with equal and unequal spacings of adjacent individuals. The 
results show that unequal individual spacing has a significant effect on the aerodynamic performance of 
groups and individuals in tandem formation flight. In addition, exchanging the spacing of adjacent 
individuals in the same formation would not change the aerodynamic performance of the group, but would 
dramatically change the benefit distribution of individuals. A detailed analysis of the flow field variations 
reveals the connection between individual spacing changes and flow mechanism changes. It also explained 
whether the narrow channel effect in the downstroke and the wake capture effect in the upstroke could be 
applied in tandem formation flight, subject to the variation of individual spacing.},
DOI = {10.32604/icces.2023.09892}
}