Aerodynamic Performance of Micro flyers Inspired by Dandelion Seed Morphology

This study investigates how the flight performance of small, lightweight micro-flyers can be improved by taking inspiration from the natural structure of dandelion seeds. The dandelion diaspore can remain suspended in the air for long periods because their porous pappus creates a stable low-pressure vortex ring that supports passive flight. In this work, we designed several dandelion-inspired micro-flyer models and tested their aerodynamic behavior using computational fluid dynamics simulations using AMSYS Fluent. The models were analyzed to understand how features such as porosity, number of filaments, and pappus angle affect drag, the formation of separated vortex ring, and flow stability. The simulation results show that certain natural design principles, particularly pappus angle, high porosity, and distributed filaments, help form a stable separated vortex ring similar to that observed in real dandelion seeds. These findings provide insight into how natural morphology can guide the engineering of ultralight micro-flyers for environmental monitoring, energy-efficient sensing, and other low-Reynolds number applications.