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On the scaling of drag reduction by reconfiguration in plants

2011; Elsevier BV; Volume: 340; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.005

1873-7234

Emmanuel de Langre, Álvaro Gutiérrez, Julia Cossé,

Biomimetic flight and propulsion mechanisms

Slender flexible structures such as plants are deformed by external flow. When the deformation is significant, this results in a reduction of drag. We give a theoretical value of the exponent that characterizes the drag law. This theoretical value is shown to compare well with experimental data on a very large variety of plants. It is found that reconfiguration affects more the local bending stress than the total drag. Moreover, a non-linearity in the bending law does not affect significantly the mechanism.