Clap-and-Fling Vortex Method (2D)

This is the 2D companion to the 3D clap-and-fling insect-flight model, and it takes a genuinely different computational approach rather than just re-drawing the same scene flat. Instead of animating a kinematic formula, it runs a real 2D discrete-vortex method: each wing is a flat-plate cross-section carrying one bound point vortex, solved every frame from a proper no-penetration boundary condition that includes the other wing's influence, and every change in bound circulation sheds a wake vortex exactly as Kelvin's theorem demands. Those wake vortices then convect under mutual Biot-Savart induction alongside the bound vortices, so the "trapped air" effect of the clap and the vortex wake left behind by the fling both emerge from the same physics rather than being hand-tuned. Tune wingbeat frequency, wing size, how tight the clap actually gets and how fast the wings peel apart, and watch the solved circulation, Reynolds number and a genuinely computed lift-boost ratio respond.