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Beyond robins: aerodynamic analyses of animal flight.

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Author

Summary, in English

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.

Publishing year

2008

Language

English

Pages

595-601

Publication/Series

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Volume

5

Issue

23

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

The Royal Society of Canada

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • flow visualization
  • animal flight
  • aerodynamics

Status

Published

Research group

  • Animal Flight Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1742-5662