Data from: Effects of the insect body size on the wing leading-edge vortex

Stable attachment of a leading-edge vortex (LEV) plays a key role in generating the high lift on insect wings. The insect's body-size can affect the LEV structure broadly in two ways. First, an overall change in the size changes the Reynolds number, which is known to have an influence on the LEV structure. Second, it may affect the Coriolis acceleration acting across the wing, depending on the wing-offset from the axis of rotation. To investigate this, the effects of Reynolds number and the wing-offset are independently studied for a rotating wing. The three-dimensional LEV structure is mapped using a scanning PIV technique. The rapid acquisition of images and their correlation are carefully validated. The results presented in this paper show that the LEV structure changes mainly with the Reynolds number. However, it is found to be only minimally affected by changing the central body radius over a wide range of body sizes.