biomimicry: the architecture of the dragonfly

The wings of dragonflies are complex flexible aerofoils, whose deformations in flight are encoded in the distribution of rigid and compliant components within their structure. The wings have 'smart properties' adapted to deform automatically and appropriately in response to the forces they receive. The multiple configurations of the wing geometry could be understood by several factors, which influence the deformation; namely plan form geometry, corrugations, flexural stiffness, joints, mechanics, cambered infill membrane and hydraulics. These factorscomplement one another and collectively provide the dragonfly wing with a 'complex emergent behaviour', which is not the mere sum of the parts.

A copy of the full paper can be downloaded from the ASME 2011 conference proceedings.