TheaerodynamicforcesandflowstructureofamodelinsectwingisstudiedbysolvingtheNavier-Stokesequationsnumerically.Afteraninitialstartfromrest,thewingismadetoexecuteanazimuthalrotation(sweeping)atalargeangleofattackandconstantangularvelocity.TheReynoldsnumber(Re)consideredinthepresentnoteis480(Reisbasedonthemeanchordlengthofthewingandthespeedat60%winglengthfromthewingroot).Duringtheconstant-speedsweepingmotion,thestallisabsentandlargeandapproximatelyconstantliftanddragcoefficientscanbemaintained.Themechanismfortheabsenceofthestallorthemaintenanceoflargeaerodynamicforcecoefficientsisasfollows.Soonaftertheinitialstart,avortexring,whichconsistsoftheleading-edgevortex(LEV),thestartingvortex,andthetwowing-tipvortices,isformedinthewakeofthewing.Duringthesubsequentmotionofthewing,abase-to-tipspanwiseflowconvertsthevorticityintheLEVtothewingtipandtheLEVkeepsanapproximatelyconstantstrength.ThispreventstheLEVfromshedding.Asaresult,thesizeofthevortexringincreasesapproximatelylinearlywithtime,resultinginanapproximatelyconstanttimerateofthefirstmomentofvorticity,orapproximatelyconstantliftanddragcoefficients.Thevariationoftherelativevelocityalongthewingspancausesapressuregradientalongthewingspan.Thebase-to-tipspanwiseflowismainlymaintainedbythepressure-gradientforce.
