ArticleScientific reports2021
Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Small insects actively respond to updrafts by modulating their wing and body kinematics.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Article
- Interfacial vortex recapture enhances thrust in tiny water skaters.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Flow development and leading edge vorticity in bristled insect wings.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2023Article
- Flight efficiency is a key to diverse wing morphologies in small insects.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Flapping flight is one of the most costly forms of locomotion in animals. To limit energetic expenditures, flying insects thus developed multiple strategies. An effective mechanism to reduce flight power expenditures is the harvesting of kinetic energy from motion of the surrounding air. We here show an unusual mechanism of energy harvesting in an insect that recaptures the rotational energy of air vortices. The mechanism requires pronounced chordwise wing bending during which the wing surface momentary traps the vortex and transfers its kinetic energy to the wing within less than a millisecond. Numerical and robotic controls show that the decrease in vortex strength is minimal without the nearby wing surface. The measured energy recycling might slightly reduce the power requirements needed for body weight support in flight, lowering the flight costs in animals flying at elevated power demands. An increase in flight efficiency improves flight during aversive manoeuvring in response to predation and long-distance migration, and thus factors that determine the worldwide abundance and distribution of insect populations.
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