DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tc29h
title: Data from: Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight

description: Mosquitoes exhibit unusual wing kinematics; their long, slender wings flap
 at remarkably high frequencies for their size (&gt;800 Hz)and with
 lower stroke amplitudes than any other insect group1. This shifts weight
 support away from the translation-dominated, aerodynamic mechanisms used
 by most insects2, as well as by helicopters and aeroplanes, towards poorly
 understood rotational mechanisms that occur when pitching at the end of
 each half-stroke. Here we report free-flight mosquito wing kinematics,
 solve the full Navier–Stokes equations using computational fluid dynamics
 with overset grids, and validate our results with in vivo flow
 measurements. We show that, although mosquitoes use familiar separated
 flow patterns, much of the aerodynamic force that supports their weight is
 generated in a manner unlike any previously described for a flying animal.
 There are three key features: leading-edge vortices (a well-known
 mechanism that appears to be almost ubiquitous in insect flight),
 trailing-edge vortices caused by a form of wake capture at stroke
 reversal, and rotational drag. The two new elements are largely
 independent of the wing velocity, instead relying on rapid changes in the
 pitch angle (wing rotation) at the end of each half-stroke, and they are
 therefore relatively immune to the shallow flapping amplitude. Moreover,
 these mechanisms are particularly well suited to high aspect ratio
 mosquito wings.
description: Data (part 1)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Stroke-averaged wing
 kinematics of a mosquito (M08). The data was generated from high-speed
 camera images by using an automated shape-carving algorithm, and was
 subsequently used for computational fluid dynamic analysis. Further
 information is available on request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 k1.xlsData (part 2)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Flow field from
 computational fluid dynamic analysis at a key instant, t1. The files are
 in Tecplot binary format, readable using flow visualization software such
 as Tecplot and Paraview. Further information is available on
 request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 f1.pltData (part 3)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Flow field from
 computational fluid dynamic analysis at a key instant, t2. The files are
 in Tecplot binary format, readable using flow visualization software such
 as Tecplot and Paraview. Further information is available on
 request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 f2.pltData (part 4)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Flow field from
 computational fluid dynamic analysis at a key instant, t3. The files are
 in Tecplot binary format, readable using flow visualization software such
 as Tecplot and Paraview. Further information is available on
 request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 f3.pltData (part 5)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Flow field from
 computational fluid dynamic analysis at a key instant, t4. The files are
 in Tecplot binary format, readable using flow visualization software such
 as Tecplot and Paraview. Further information is available on
 request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 f4.pltData (part 6)
 underpinning "Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable
 high frequency mosquito flight", Bomphrey et al,
 2017.Flow field from
 computational fluid dynamic analysis at a key instant, t5. The files are
 in Tecplot binary format, readable using flow visualization software such
 as Tecplot and Paraview. Further information is available on
 request.Bomphrey et al. 2017
 f5.plt