Thomas Engels
Papers
2
Total Citations
19
H-Index
2
About
Thomas Engels is a leading researcher in the biomechanics of insect flight, with a focus on the fluid dynamics of flapping wings at small scales. His work explores how flying insects and micro-air vehicles navigate and conserve energy in complex, unsteady airflows. Engels’s most influential paper, "Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies" (2021, 16 citations), demonstrates a key mechanism by which fruit flies harvest kinetic energy from the surrounding air through vortex trapping, significantly reducing the high metabolic costs of flapping flight. This discovery provides crucial insight into the evolutionary adaptations that enable efficient hovering and maneuvering. In another notable study, "Added costs of insect-scale flapping flight in unsteady airflows" (2016, 3 citations), Engels shows that body rotation in periodically varying lateral winds imposes additional energetic penalties on small fliers, highlighting the challenges of real-world flight. His work bridges fundamental fluid mechanics and biological engineering, offering design principles for more resilient, energy-efficient micro-drones. Engels’s research is essential reading for students and engineers interested in bio-inspired robotics and the physics of animal locomotion.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies16 citations · 2021
- 2Added costs of insect-scale flapping flight in unsteady airflows3 citations · 2016