Numerical study of the unsteady aerodynamics

of rotating seeds
Bruno A. Roccia†*1, Sergio Preidikman*2, y Fernando G. Flores*3
†Grupo de Matemática Aplicada, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Ruta Nacional 36 km 601,
Río Cuarto, Argentina
1 bruno.roccia@gmail.com

*
Instituto de Estudios Avanzados en Ingeniería y Tecnología, IDIT UNC-CONICET, Av. Velez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba,
Argentina
2 spreidik@umd.edu
3 fernando.flores@unc.edu.ar

Abstract—Over millions of years of evolution, most plants have
developed specific mechanisms that allow them to increase its
population spread: their fruits or seeds may have “organs” that
enable them to generate enough lift to stay aloft, for a while, as
they fall. Those seeds describing a rotational motion, called
samaras, are perhaps the simplest, stable and efficient flying
devices designed by nature. In this paper, we present a well-
suited numerical tool for studying the aerodynamics of rotating
seeds. The proposed simulation framework is based on a
modified version of the well-known unsteady vortex-lattice
method (UVLM) coupled with a kinematics model, that was
previously developed by the authors of this paper. In order to test
the computational code, validate the aerodynamic model and set
limitations of the model, we successfully reproduced a classic
well-documented problem: a two-blade rotor in hover. Finally,
we present numerical results related to the aerodynamics of a
rotating seed in its descending phase.
Abstract—A lo largo de millones de años de evolución, ciertas
especies vegetales han desarrollado estrategias de diseminación
para aumentar su población: sus frutos o semillas poseen
“órganos” que les permiten generar suficiente fuerza de
sustentación como para mantenerse en vuelo durante un
razonable período de tiempo mientras caen. Las semillas que al
caer ejecutan un movimiento de autorrotación son llamadas
sámaras y son, quizás, las “aviadoras” más simples, estables y
eficientes que la naturaleza ha creado. En este trabajo se
presenta el desarrollo de una herramienta de simulación
numérica que permite estudiar la aerodinámica asociada al
movimiento de autorrotación exhibido por las sámaras. El
modelo aerodinámico utilizado está basado en una versión
modificada del método de red de vórtices no lineal e
inestacionario (UVLM). El movimiento del apéndice a modo de
ala (esto es, la superficie sustentadora) de la semilla autorrotante
se describe utilizando un modelo cinemático desarrollado con
anterioridad por los autores de este trabajo. Con el fin de
verificar el código computacional desarrollado, validar la
utilización del modelo aerodinámico adoptado y determinar sus
límites, en lo que concierne a su aplicación al estudio de semillas
autorrotantes, se reprodujo un problema muy bien documentado
en la literatura: el referido a un rotor en vuelo suspendido
(hovering) que alcanza el estado estacionario. En la parte final de
este trabajo, como caso de estudio, se presentan resultados
numéricos concernientes a la aerodinámica de la semilla rotante
de arce.
Index Terms— flying seeds, samaras, autorotation, UVLM.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent decades, different research groups around the
world have addressed the difficult task of studying and
understanding the subjacent physics that characterizes flights
at small scales. Despite the constant advances in this area,
many of they attributed to Dickinson’s team and the Group of
Animal Flight led by Ellington, there are still many
unanswered questions [1]. The development of micro-air-
vehicles (MAVs) with similar capabilities to those showed by
flying creatures is, nowadays, a very active research area. An
alternative to MAV-like flapping wings is based on the simple
way in which almost all plants and trees disperse their seeds
over large distances [2],[3]. Among the dispersal modes
exhibited by seeds and flying fruits, the most interesting one,
from an engineering point of view, is the spinning flight [4].
The seeds that execute a rotary motion as they descend to the
ground are known as samaras, and they are perhaps, the
simplest, stable and efficient “fliers” conceived by nature.
Moreover, this kind of flights is an example of elegance and
balance; where gravitational potential energy becomes into
rotational kinetic energy which perpetuates an
aerodynamically stable helical descent.
Early studies related to rotating seeds date back to the 50s
and were oriented to analyze the autorotation mechanism.
Subsequently, several works about morphological features
(e.g., roughness, airfoil shape, mass center, etc.) of samaras
were published [5],[6].
On aerodynamics, Isaac Newton was the first to describe
the falling free motion of a body immersed in a fluid medium.
It was Maxwell, in 1854, who led the first systematic study
about the autorotation mechanism [7]. However, it was not
until the second half of the 20th century that the autorotation
phenomenon caught the attention of the scientific community
[8]-[11]. Later, Lentink et al. [12] used a dynamically scaled
model of a maple seed in order to study the three-dimensional
flow around it. They found the presence of a leading-edge
vortex (LEV) as one of the main mechanisms of lift
production. Lentink’s team pointed out that: the LEV is a
convergent solution in the context of natural flight, both in
animals and insects as well as in plants. Varshney et al. [13]
studied another phenomenon, poorly understood, related to the
flight of samaras; the transition phase from rest to steady
{ }
B = bˆ 1 , bˆ 2 , bˆ 3 . The orientation of the body-fixed frame, B,
gyration motion. with respect to the inertial frame is obtained by using a
rotation representation based on Euler angles. The sequence
From a numerical point of view, Andronov et al. [14] and
used is a 3–2–1 defined by: i) the angle, Ωt, generated by the
Mittal et al. [15] has been carried out dynamic and
constant angular velocity associated to the rotational motion
aerodynamic studies on flat-plates undergoing an autorotation
of the seed, Ω; ii) the cone angle, β; and iii) the geometric
motion. Despite these efforts, there are still several questions
angle of attack, αg.
related to the aerodynamic/dynamic behavior of these flying
In Table I, we present the values of the main morphological
structures.
and kinematical parameters for the maple seed adopted as
In this paper, we present an enlarged version of the study case.
unsteady vortex-lattice method for the study of nonlinear TABLE I
aerodynamics of rotating seeds. MORPHOLOGICAL AND KINEMATICAL PARAMETERS FOR THE GRISEUM PAX
The aerodynamic model takes into account all possible Parameter values
aerodynamic interferences and allows predicting: i) the S Wing area 3.04 cm2
flowfield around the samara’s wing; ii) the spatial-temporal L Wing length 3.62 cm
vorticity distribution attached to the seed; iii) the vorticity AR Aspect ratio 4.33
m Mass 0.058 g
distribution in the wakes emitted from the sharp edges; iv) the Ω Angular velocity 977 rpm
position and shape of these wakes; and v) the unsteady loads VD Descent rate 0.82 m/seg
acting on the samara’s blade. β Cone angle 23.7º
αg Geometric angle of attack 1.17º
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, an aerodynamic
study of rotating seeds by means of an UVLM involving a For a detailed description of the kinematical parameters
free deforming wake in the time domain, time-dependent involved in the flight of samaras, the reader can consult [16].
geometries and largely attached flows is unavailable in the The position and velocity of an arbitrary point P belonging
literature, and it is the focus of the present work. to the seed can be expressed as follows (see Fig. 2),
R P = R 0 + r,
II. KINEMATIC MODEL (1)
VP = VD nˆ 3 + ω r,
The computational model adopted in this work to study the
aerodynamics of rotating seeds is based on the maple seed where R0 is the position vector of the origin of frame B, r is
(griseum pax) morphology [6]. For reasons concerning to the the position vector fixed to the body frame B, n̂3 is the unit
aerodynamic model, the surfaces that define the nut as well as vector parallel to a vertical line, and ω is a skew-symmetric
the blade (lifting surface) of the seed were discretized by
using simple quadrilateral elements with four nodes (see Fig. tensor associated to the axial vector ω = Ω nˆ 3 .
1). Ω
Nut n̂1
a) Leading edge n̂ 2
Motion N
n̂ 3
Wing or blade direction
R0
b̂1 b̂ 3
B
Mass center Trailing edge
b̂ 2
RC cmax
r
b)

a Fig. 2. Kinematics of a maple seed while descending.

R
L III. AERODYNAMIC MODEL
Fig. 1. Spatial geometry of seed, a) picture of a real samara [6], b) An enlarged and modified version of the general method
computational model built in MATLAB known as unsteady vortex-lattice method is used in this work.
The reference frames used to study the rotation motion of a This method can be applied to three-dimensional lifting and
flying seed are, commonly, two: i) a Newtonian or inertial non-lifting flows. The surface of the body may undergo arbitrary
frame N = {nˆ 1 , nˆ 2 , nˆ 3 } , and ii) a body-fixed frame located at time-dependent deformation, and it can execute any type of
maneuver in the space surrounded by moving air. The flow
the rotation center (RC) of the seed and denoted by around the full body, i.e. the nut and the blade of the seed, is
assumed to be irrotational and incompressible over the entire
flowfield, except in the regions surrounding the solid
boundaries of the body and wakes. As a result of the relative
motion between the body and fluid, vorticity is generated in a
thin region surrounding the surface of the body (the boundary
layer). Part of this vorticity is shed from the sharp edges and
forms the wakes. We consider the boundary layers and wakes
as zero-thickness sheets of vorticity.
The proposed model considers a flow of an incompressible
fluid characterized by a very high Reynolds number. The
governing equation is the well-known Laplace’s equation of
continuity for incompressible and irrotational flows:
∇ 2ψ ( x, t ) = 0
where ψ (x,t) is the velocity potential function, which is valid
in the whole irrotational and incompressible fluid domain
(outside of the boundary layers and the wakes), x is the
position vector and t is time.
The time dependence is introduced into Laplace’s equation
by the boundary conditions. In the fluid domain the vorticity
field Ω and the velocity field V co-exist.
In the case of a finite straight vortex segment of circulation
Γ(t) the velocity associated can be computed by using the
following discrete version of the Biot-Savart law:
Γ (t ) ω × x1
V ( x, t ) = ω ⋅ ( eˆ1 − eˆ 2 ) 
4π + (δ ω )
2 2
ω × x1 2
where x1 and x2 are the position vectors of the point at which
the velocity value is computed relative to the ends of the
straight vortex segment, ê1 and ê2 , the unit vectors associated
to x1 and x2, and ω = x1 − x 2 .
For a field point on or very near the vortex segment itself or
its extension, ω is or nearly is parallel to r1. This causes the
behavior of V ( x, t ) to be troublesome. In order to circumvent
this bad behavior, Eq. (3) was slightly modified by
introducing δ ω , where δ is the “cutoff radius”. Standard
procedures use a range for δ between 10 and 25% of the
smallest of the panel dimensions [17].
A. Discretization of the vortex sheets
In the unsteady vortex-lattice method, we replace the
bound-vortex sheets by a lattice of short, straight vortex
segments of circulation Γi ( t). These segments divide the
surface of the seed’s nut and blade into a number of elements
of area (panels) (see Fig. 3). The model is completed by
joining free vortex lines, representing the free-vortex sheets,
to the bound-vortex lattice along the edges of separation; such
as the trailing edge and wing tip of the lifting surface.
B. Boundary conditions
The governing equation of the problem is complemented
with the following boundary conditions:
1) Regularity at infinity: this condition requires that all
disturbances due to a moving body in a fluid, initially at rest,
decay away from body and its wakes.
2) The non-penetration condition: it is applied over the entire
boundary of the solid immersed in the fluid. According to this
condition, also called impermeability condition, the normal
component of velocity of all the fluid particles relative to the
body surface is required to be zero on the body surface:
( V∞ + VB + VW − VP ) ⋅ nˆ = 0 (4)
where V∞ is the freestream velocity, VB is the velocity
associate to the bound-vortex lattice, VW is the velocity
associated to the free-vortex lattice, n̂ is the unit vector
normal to the body surface, and VP was defined in Eq. (1).
(2) Because the vortex sheets are replaced by vortex lattices,
the no penetration condition given by Eq. (4) is only satisfied
at one point in each panel; these are called control points
(CPs), and they are located at the centroid of the corners of
each panel (see Fig. 3).
In order to reduce the dimension of the problem, each panel
belonging to the bound lattice is considered to be surrounded
by a closed-loop vortex of constant circulation, G j ( t ) .
C. Aerodynamics loads
The aerodynamics loads on the lifting surface are computed
as follows: i ) for each element, the pressure jump at the
control point is computed using the unsteady Bernoulli
(3)
equation (5); ii ) the force in each element is computed as the
product of the pressure jump times the element area times the
normal unit vector; iii ) the resultant forces and moments are
computed as the vector summation of the forces and moments
produced by each element.
∂ 1 p ( x, t )
ψ ( x, t ) + V ( x, t ) ⋅ V ( x, t ) + = H (t ) (5)
∂t 2 ρ
where V(x,t) is the absolute velocity, the spatial gradient of ψ ,
p(x,t) is the unknown pressure, ρ is the constant density of the fluid,
and H is the energy per mass unit which is a function of time.
Fig. 3. Discretization of the bound-vortex sheets representing the seed’s nut
and blade.
For a detailed mathematical formulation of the unsteady
lattice-vortex method, the reader may consult [18]-[20].
IV. NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
In this section, we present a series of results obtained with
the current numerical tool, which implements the formulations
described in Sections II and III. The code was written in discrepancies can be observed mainly due to some
FORTRAN 90 and compiled to run in Windows platforms. compressibility effects as the outer region of the blade is in a
Automatic optimization options, which are specific for Intel mid-subsonic range, and the tip vortex, in the simulation
processors, have been used to achieve higher performance. wakes are only emitted from the trailing edge, but not from
For all cases, the code was run on a desktop computer with an the tip.
i5 processor, RAM DDR3 of 4 GB, and a hard disk of 2 TB.
2 2
a) b)
A. Validations y/b = 0.5 y/b = 0.68
1.5 1.5
In order to verify, validate and determine the limitations of
1

ΔCP
1
the adopted aerodynamic model, we reproduce two well-

ΔCP
known problems. The first one consists of a flat plate 0.5 0.5
immersed in a low subsonic flow, and the second one is the 0 0
case of a two-blade rotor in hover that reaches the steady state.
-0.5 -0.5
0 0.5 1 0 0.5 1
1) Flat plate (AR = 1) x/c x/c
In this Subsection, we consider the case of a rectangular 2
c)
2
d)
wing characterized by an aspect ratio AR = 1. The wing begins y/b = 0.80 y/b = 0.89
1.5 1.5
impulsively to move at constant velocity. Figures 4a and 4b
1
show the normal force coefficient, CN, and the moment 1

ΔCP
ΔCP
coefficient, CM, for different values of the angle of attack (at 0.5 0.5
steady-state regime). The current numerical results are
0 0
compared against experimental data reported by
Belotserkovskii [21] and numerical values published by -0.5
0 0.5 1
-0.5
0 0.5 1
Konstandinopoulos et al. [22], showing excellent agreement in x/c x/c
all the cases. 2
e)
0.35
f)
y/b = 0.96
1 0.4 1.5

0.8
a) b) 1
0.3
ΔCP

CL
0.3
0.6 0.5
0.25
CM
CN

0.2
0.4 0

0.1 -0.5 0.2

0.2
0
0 5 10 15 20 0
0 5 10
α [º] α [º]
Konstandinopoulos et al. [22] Belotserkovskii [21]
Fig. 4. a) Normal force coefficient, b) Moment coefficient.
2) Two-blade rotor in hover
In this Subsection, we consider the experiment studied in
Caradonna and Tung [23]. A two-blade rotor with an aspect
ratio AR = 6, with blades made up of an NACA 0012 profile
and untwisted and untapered with a precone of 0.5º, in which
the chord length is 7.5 in is used. The collective pitch angle of
the blade is 8º and the angular speed is 1250 RPM
(Revolutions Per Minute). Experimental results are reported
for sections located at the 50, 68, 80, 89 and 96% of the blade
length.
Figures 5a-e present the distribution of the coefficient of
pressure difference along the dimensionless chord, ΔCp vs.
x/c. Figure 5f shows the distribution of a lift coefficient along
the dimensionless span, CL vs. y/b. For comparison, reference
values obtained from experimental measurements are also
presented. It is observed in these figures that all the ΔCp
distributions are in very good agreement and small differences
are attributed to the discretization of the blade that comprises
only 12 panels in chord-wise direction. Regarding CL
distribution, although results are in good agreement, some
0 0.5 1 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
x/c y/b
15 20 Caradonna and Tung (trend) Current
Caradonna and Tung [23] Current (trend)
Current
Fig. 5. Comparison of the ΔCp and CL distributions of a two-blade rotor.
B. Aerodynamics of a samara in descending motion
Numerical results are presented in this Subsection for the
aerodynamics of an untwisted maple seed while descending to
the ground. Both, kinematical and morphological parameters
for the seed considered here can be found in Table I. Even
though Lentink et al. [12] showed that LEV plays a
fundamental role in the seed flight, it is not included in this
work. Despite this phenomenon can be easily incorporated
into the model through the on/off mechanism developed by
Roccia et al. [16], severe numerical instabilities occur when
the number of revolutions simulated are more than one.
The setup for the numerical experiment presented below
consist in: i) a fully spatial discretization of the seed with 500
aerodynamic panels (300 for the blade and 200 for the nut);
and ii) four complete revolutions of the seed, i.e. 240 time
steps. In order to have uniform elements in the free-vortex
lattice, both the aerodynamic model as well as the kinematic
model are nondimensionalized by using the following
characteristic variables of length LC = 0.87741 mm, time TC =
7.6774 x 10-4 seg, and density ρC = ρair = 1.00 x 10-9 kg/mm3.
Figure 6a shows the lift force for four complete revolutions
of the seed. As it can be noted, after the first revolution, the of the ΔCP, where the angle of attack shows a significant
lift force stabilizes around 6.6 x 10-4 N; the value at steady increase (see fig. 6d).
state regime. At steady state, the lift force generated by the For the problem analyzed in this paper, we recall that the
rotational motion of the seed directly balances its weight, effective angle of attack αe strongly depends of three
which for the specie analyzed here ranges from 5.5 x 10-4 N to variables: i) the tangential velocity component of the seed; ii)
6.5 x 10-4 N. This is an encouraging finding since it allows the descending velocity; and iii) the local velocity of the fluid.
inferring that the aerodynamic model adopted in this work is Nearby the center of rotation, the angle of attack reaches very
appropriate to study the physics behind the flight of flying
high values (about 60º), then it decreases until approximately
seeds. In addition, fig. 6b shows the force moment around the
rotation axis n̂3 , which stabilizes close to 1.78 x 10-7 Nmm. 20º at 0.8R (where R is the wing length) and finally increases
sharply on the wingtip.
Figure 6c shows the spanwise pressure jump coefficient,
ΔCP. Near the seed’s wingtip, it can be observed a sharp drop
-4 -7
x 10 x 10
2
7.5
a) b) 1.9

7 1.8
Lift force [N]

1.7
6.5

MZ [Nmm]
1.6 1.777 x 10-7 Nmm
6
6.637 x 10-4 N
1.5

1.4
5.5
1.3

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Number of revolutions Number of revolutions
6

c) 5
d)
4
Angle of attack [º]

2
ΔCP

-1

-2

-3
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
η/R
Number of revolutions

e)

Fig. 6. a) Lift force, b) Moment force around the rotation axis, c) Spanwise distribution of the pressure jump ΔCp, d) Spanwise distribution of the effective angle
of attack, e) Wake pattern for the first revolution.
of αe toward the wingtip. Finally, fig. 6e shows the wake
In qualitative terms, the spanwise distribution of αe shown
evolution for the first revolution of the seed.
in fig. 6d is consistent with the experimental values published
in Lentink et al. [12] for several species of rotating seeds. Though further testing is necessary, this phenomenon could
However, Lentink’s team did not report the abrupt increment be associated to a question of shape. Unlike aircraft wings or
helicopter blades, biological structures such as the ones
discussed in this paper do not have the trailing edges and
wingtips well defined. Namely, the wingtip and the trailing
edge merge into a single sharp edge (with very high curvature)
where vortex shedding takes place. Such geometric shape
promotes the formation of an intense vortex at the wingtip,
which could be responsible for increasing the angle of attack
and decreasing the pressure jump coefficient. Therefore, more
studies are needed in order to clarify if this phenomenon is
due to some limitation of the adopted aerodynamic model or is
indeed a natural characteristic of the flight of rotating seeds.
V. CONCLUSIONS
A numerical tool (in development) is presented in this
paper, based on a modified version of the three-dimensional
unsteady vortex-lattice method (UVLM). In order to consider
seeds with dissimilar morphologies and different sizes, we
added to the numerical framework a preprocessor built in
MATLAB that allows to: i) generate diverse geometries for
the seed (nut and blade), and ii) use different kinematic
patterns for the motion of the seed.
The aerodynamic model was successfully validated by
comparing current numerical results against two problems
well-documented in the literature, a flat plate in steady state
regime and a two-blade rotor in hover that reaches the steady
state.
Some important conclusions can be drawn from the results
presented in preceding sections:
1) The lift force predicted by the current model balances the
weight of the seed at steady state regime;
2) The spanwise distribution of the effective angle of attack is
consistent with experimental data reported in the literature; and
3) The spanwise distribution of the pressure jump shows a
significant decrease toward the wingtip, the same zone where
the angle of attack increases sharply; this phenomenon was
not reported in previous works. At first, this behavior can be
attributed to the geometric shape of the seed; however, it is
necessary to conduct more exhaustive numerical experiments
to definitely elucidate its origin.
These findings strongly suggest that the UVLM could be a
very accurate and efficient tool for future studies on both the
natural flight of seeds as well as the aerodynamics of MAVs
based on the autorotation mechanism.
Currently, we are developing an algorithm to combine the
aerodynamic model presented in this work with a rigid
dynamical model for the seed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the partial support
received from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones
Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Argentina. In addition,
the authors would like to thank the Grupo de Electrónica
Aplicada (GEA) and Grupo de Matemática Aplicada (GMA),
Engineering School, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto,
Argentina.
REFERENCES
[1] D. J. Pines, and F. Bohorquez, “Challenges facing future micro-air-
vehicle development,” Journal of Aircraft, 2006, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 290-
305.
[2] H. S. Horn, R. Nathan, and S. R. Kaplan, “Long distance dispersal of
tree seeds by wind,” Ecological Research, 2001, vol. 16, pp. 877-885.
[3] R. Nathan, “Long-distance of dispersal plants,” Science, 2006, vol. 313,
pp. 786-788.
[4] C. Pandolfi, and D. Izzo, “Biomimetic on seed dispersal: survey and
insights for space exploration,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2013,
8:025003 – 9pp.
[5] D. Seter, and A. Rosen, “Stability of the vertical autorotation of a single-
winged samara,” Journal of Applied Mechanics, 1992, vol. 59, pp. 1000-
1008.
[6] A. Azuma, and K. Yasuda, “The autorotation boundary of the flight of
samaras,” Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1997, vol. 185, pp. 313-20.
[7] J. C. Maxwell, “On a particular case of the descent of a heavy body in a
resisting medium,” Cambridge, Dublin Mathematical Journal, 1894,
vol. 9, pp. 145-148.
[8] R. A. Norberg, “Autorotation, self-stability, and structure of single-
winged fruits and seeds (samaras) with comparative remarks on animal
flight,” Biol. Rev., 1973, vol. 48, pp. 561-596.
[9] C. W. McCutchen, “The spinning rotation of ash and tulip tree samaras,”
Science, 1977, vol. 197, pp. 691-692.
[10] D. S. Green, “The terminal velocity and dispersal of spinning samaras,”
Amer. Journal Bot., 1980, vol. 67, no. 8, pp. 1218-1224.
[11] A. Azuma, and K. Yasuda, “Flight performance of rotary seeds,” Journal
of Theoretical Biology, 1989, vol. 138, pp. 23-53.
[12] D. Lentink, W. B. Dickson, J. L. van Leeuwen, and M. H. Dickinson,
“Leading-edge vortices elevate lift of autorotating plant seeds,” Science,
2009, vol. 324, pp. 1440-1438.
[13] K. Varshney, C. Chang, and Z. J., Wang, “The kinematics of falling
maple seeds and the initial transition to helical motion,” Nonlinearity,
2012, vol. 25, pp. C1-C8.
[14] P. R. Andronov, D. A. Grigorenko, S. V. Guvernyuk, and G. Y.
Dynnikova, “Numerical simulation of plate autorotation in a viscous
fluid flow,” Journal of Fluid Dynamics, 2007, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 719-
731.
[15] R. Mittal, V. Seshadri, and H. S. Udaykumar, “Flutter, tumble and
vortex induced autorotation,” Journal of Theoretical and Computational
Fluid Dynamics, 2004, vol. 17, pp. 165-170.
[16] B. R. Roccia, S. Preidikman, C. Estrada, y J. C. Massa, “Estudio del
“vuelo” de semillas autorrotantes,” Mecánica Computacional, 2013, vol.
32, pp. 1481-1500.
[17] A. Van Garrel, “The Development of a Wind Turbine Aerodynamics
Simulation Module,” ECN Rept. ECN-C-03-079, Delft Univ. of
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, 2003.
[18] S. Preidikman, “Numerical Simulations of Interactions Among
Aerodynamics, Structural Dynamics, and Control Systems,” Ph.D.
Dissertation, Dept. of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia
Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA, 1998.
[19] P. Konstandinopoulos, D. F. Thrasher, D. T. Mook, A. H. Nayfeh, and
L. Watson, “A Vortex-Lattice Method for General Unsteady
Aerodynamics,” Journal of Aircraft, 1985, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 43-49.
[20] B. A. Roccia, S. Preidikman, J. C. Massa, and D. T. Mook, “A modified
unsteady vortex-lattice method to study flapping wings in hover flight,”
AIAA Journal, 2013, vol. 51, no. 11, pp. 2628-2642.
[21] S. M. Belotserkovskii, “Study of the unsteady aerodynamics of lifting
surfaces using the computer,” Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 1977,
vol. 9, pp. 469-494.
[22] P. Konstadinopoulos, D. T. Mook, and A. H. Nayfeh, “A numerical
method for general unsteady aerodynamics,” AIAA-81-1877. AIAA
Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, August 19-21, Albuquerque,
New Mexico, 1981.
[23] F. X. Caradonna, and C. Tung, “Experimental and analytical studies of a
model helicopter rotor in hover,” NASA Technical Memorandum 81232,
1981.