Analysis of the effects of vein arrangements on insect wing structure with finite element method

Nowadays, the demand for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) is growing rapidly in both commercial and military use. Due to the excellent flapping flight capability, insects now serve as a main source of biological inspiration for the researches of future micro air vehicles. As the most important organ of flight for insects, insect wing, especially its deformation partially controlled by the vein arrangements, is now becoming a key factor for the research and the design of insect-like MAVs. The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of the two different kinds of veins and their arrangements on the insect wing structure with Finite Element Method. A simplified wing modelling meshed with the Stiffened Shell Elements is tested under different vein arrangements. The correlated natural frequencies and modeshapes are achieved and analyzed for each case. Through the analysis, we can eventually conclude the effects of longitudinal veins, cross veins and their combined arrangements on the wing structure, respectively.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Yijun Wan