How do birds' tails work? Delta-wing theory fails to predict tail shape during flight
(2002) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 269(1495). p.1053-1057- Abstract
- Birds appear to use their tails during flight, but until recently the aerodynamic role that tails fulfil was largely unknown. In recent years delta-wing theory, devised to predict the aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft, has been applied to the tails of birds and has been successful in providing a model for the aerodynamics of a birds tail. This theory now provides the conventional explanation for how birds tails work. A delta-wing theory (slender-wing theory) has been used, as part of a variable-geometry model to predict how tail and wing shape should vary during flight at different airspeeds. We tested these predictions using barn swallows flying in a wind tunnel. We show that the predictions are not quantitatively well supported.... (More)
- Birds appear to use their tails during flight, but until recently the aerodynamic role that tails fulfil was largely unknown. In recent years delta-wing theory, devised to predict the aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft, has been applied to the tails of birds and has been successful in providing a model for the aerodynamics of a birds tail. This theory now provides the conventional explanation for how birds tails work. A delta-wing theory (slender-wing theory) has been used, as part of a variable-geometry model to predict how tail and wing shape should vary during flight at different airspeeds. We tested these predictions using barn swallows flying in a wind tunnel. We show that the predictions are not quantitatively well supported. This suggests that a new theory or a modified version of delta-wing theory is needed to adequately explain the way in which morphology varies during flight. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/131610
- author
- Evans, MR ; Rosén, Mikael LU ; Park, KJ and Hedenström, Anders LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2002
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
- volume
- 269
- issue
- 1495
- pages
- 1053 - 1057
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000175826100011
- pmid:12028763
- scopus:0037157020
- pmid:12028763
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2001.1901
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a17af7bf-14d2-455f-949a-aac7f1b52bab (old id 131610)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:50:20
- date last changed
- 2022-01-28 22:28:39
@article{a17af7bf-14d2-455f-949a-aac7f1b52bab,
abstract = {{Birds appear to use their tails during flight, but until recently the aerodynamic role that tails fulfil was largely unknown. In recent years delta-wing theory, devised to predict the aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft, has been applied to the tails of birds and has been successful in providing a model for the aerodynamics of a birds tail. This theory now provides the conventional explanation for how birds tails work. A delta-wing theory (slender-wing theory) has been used, as part of a variable-geometry model to predict how tail and wing shape should vary during flight at different airspeeds. We tested these predictions using barn swallows flying in a wind tunnel. We show that the predictions are not quantitatively well supported. This suggests that a new theory or a modified version of delta-wing theory is needed to adequately explain the way in which morphology varies during flight.}},
author = {{Evans, MR and Rosén, Mikael and Park, KJ and Hedenström, Anders}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1495}},
pages = {{1053--1057}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
title = {{How do birds' tails work? Delta-wing theory fails to predict tail shape during flight}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4795294/624235.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2001.1901}},
volume = {{269}},
year = {{2002}},
}