Effect of wing fold angles on the terminal descent velocity of double-winged autorotating seeds, fruits, and other diaspores

Abstract

Wind dispersal of seeds is an essential mechanism for plants to proliferate and to invade new territories. In this paper we present a methodology used in our recent work [Rabault, Fauli, and Carlson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 024501 (2019)] that combines 3D printing, a minimal theoretical model, and experiments to determine how the curvature along the length of the wings of autorotating seeds, fruits, and other diaspores provides them with an optimal wind dispersion potential, i.e., minimal terminal descent velocity. Experiments are performed on 3D-printed double-winged synthetic fruits for a wide range of wing fold angles (obtained from normalized curvature along the wing length), base wing angles, and wing loadings to determine how these affect the flight. Our experimental and theoretical models find an optimal wing fold angle that minimizes the descent velocity, where the curved wings must be sufficiently long to have horizontal segments, but also sufficiently short to ensure that their tip segments are primarily aligned along the horizontal direction. The curved shape of the wings of double winged autorotating diaspores may be an important parameter that improves the fitness of these plants in an ecological strategy.