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Beyond robins: aerodynamic analyses of animal flight.

Hedenström, Anders LU and Spedding, Geoffrey (2008) In Journal of the Royal Society Interface 5(23). p.595-601
Abstract
Recent progress in studies of animal flight mechanics is reviewed. A range of birds, and now bats, has been studied in wind tunnel facilities, revealing an array of wake patterns caused by the beating wings and also by the drag on the body. Nevertheless, the quantitative analysis of these complex wake structures shows a degree of similarity among all the different wake patterns and a close agreement with standard quasi-steady aerodynamic models and predictions. At the same time, new data on the flow over a bat wing in mid-downstroke show that, at least in this case, such simplifications cannot be useful in describing in detail either the wing properties or control prospects. The reasons for these apparently divergent results are discussed... (More)
Recent progress in studies of animal flight mechanics is reviewed. A range of birds, and now bats, has been studied in wind tunnel facilities, revealing an array of wake patterns caused by the beating wings and also by the drag on the body. Nevertheless, the quantitative analysis of these complex wake structures shows a degree of similarity among all the different wake patterns and a close agreement with standard quasi-steady aerodynamic models and predictions. At the same time, new data on the flow over a bat wing in mid-downstroke show that, at least in this case, such simplifications cannot be useful in describing in detail either the wing properties or control prospects. The reasons for these apparently divergent results are discussed and prospects for future advances are considered. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
flow visualization, animal flight, aerodynamics
in
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
volume
5
issue
23
pages
595 - 601
publisher
The Royal Society of Canada
external identifiers
  • wos:000255156000002
  • scopus:42549130589
ISSN
1742-5662
DOI
10.1098/rsif.2008.0027
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fa4902d8-bd58-4b7f-b367-825c348ff756 (old id 1147633)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:07:02
date last changed
2022-04-29 00:56:07
@article{fa4902d8-bd58-4b7f-b367-825c348ff756,
  abstract     = {{Recent progress in studies of animal flight mechanics is reviewed. A range of birds, and now bats, has been studied in wind tunnel facilities, revealing an array of wake patterns caused by the beating wings and also by the drag on the body. Nevertheless, the quantitative analysis of these complex wake structures shows a degree of similarity among all the different wake patterns and a close agreement with standard quasi-steady aerodynamic models and predictions. At the same time, new data on the flow over a bat wing in mid-downstroke show that, at least in this case, such simplifications cannot be useful in describing in detail either the wing properties or control prospects. The reasons for these apparently divergent results are discussed and prospects for future advances are considered.}},
  author       = {{Hedenström, Anders and Spedding, Geoffrey}},
  issn         = {{1742-5662}},
  keywords     = {{flow visualization; animal flight; aerodynamics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{23}},
  pages        = {{595--601}},
  publisher    = {{The Royal Society of Canada}},
  series       = {{Journal of the Royal Society Interface}},
  title        = {{Beyond robins: aerodynamic analyses of animal flight.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2008.0027}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsif.2008.0027}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}