Beetle hindwings have the unique advantages of lightweight and high strength, which play a key role in flight. In this study, the beetle hindwings were cut along the chordal direction, then the first groove microstructure of different vein cross sections was investigated using the 3D microscope system and LSCM. It was found that the position of the first groove relative to the entire chordal cross-section of the wing gradually moves backwards, which has an effect on the flying aerodynamic behaviors of the beetle. Next, three corrugated airfoils (CA models) learned from the microscopy imaging of ladybird beetle hindwing were designed. Then aerodynamic behaviors were calculated by ANSYS Fluent software, it was confirmed that the position of the first groove microstructure affects the aerodynamic performance of the airfoil. For further study the influence of corrugated structural and motion parameters on the aerodynamic, 2D ‘simplified’ airfoil models with triangular corrugations (TWA models) were developed and studied.

Beetle hindwings have two distinct features: the deployable configuration and wing corrugation. At low Reynolds numbers, the corrugated wing of flapping insect wings is considered essential in improving the favorable aerodynamic forces. To further explore whether significant corrugated structure parameterized combination exists has a significant effect on aerodynamic effects, this paper proposes three technical comparison airfoils learned from the microscopy imaging of ladybird beetle hindwing: corrugated hindwings from ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis (CA models), simplified airfoil with triangular corrugations (TWA models), and a symmetric flat plate wing (FPA model). Based on ANSYS Fluent, this paper numerically solves the Navier-Stokes equations using the fluid-structure interaction method. The results show that (1) the aerodynamic performance of the corrugated section (AP1) is the optimal among CA models. The higher the frequency, the higher the lift coefficient, which is related to the vein distribution of models. (2) The pressure difference of different corrugation patterns shows significantly asymmetric during the upstroke and downstroke. The leading-edge vortex (LEV) of AP1 is more captured with the increase of frequency than AP2 and AP3. (3) Potentially critical parameters for aerodynamic performance, such as number and angle of the corrugations as well as the flapping frequencies, have been evaluated and discussed. Based on these results, 2D ‘simplified’ airfoil models with triangular corrugations (TWA models) were designed which simulated the optimum aerodynamic characteristics.