Energy-positive soaring using transient turbulent fluctuations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: He, Danyun, Reddy, Gautam, Rycroft, Chris H.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author He, Danyun
Reddy, Gautam
Rycroft, Chris H.
author_facet He, Danyun
Reddy, Gautam
Rycroft, Chris H.
contents Soaring birds gain energy from stable ascending currents or shear. However, it remains unclear whether energy loss due to drag can be overcome by extracting work from transient turbulent fluctuations. We designed numerical simulations of gliders navigating in a kinematic model that captures the spatio-temporal correlations of atmospheric turbulence. Energy extraction is enabled by an adaptive algorithm based on Monte Carlo tree search that dynamically filters acquired information about the flow to plan future paths. We show that net energy gain is feasible under realistic constraints. Glider paths reflect patterns of foraging, where exploration of the flow is interspersed with bouts of energy extraction through localized spirals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2304_05983
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Energy-positive soaring using transient turbulent fluctuations
He, Danyun
Reddy, Gautam
Rycroft, Chris H.
Fluid Dynamics
Applied Physics
Quantitative Methods
Soaring birds gain energy from stable ascending currents or shear. However, it remains unclear whether energy loss due to drag can be overcome by extracting work from transient turbulent fluctuations. We designed numerical simulations of gliders navigating in a kinematic model that captures the spatio-temporal correlations of atmospheric turbulence. Energy extraction is enabled by an adaptive algorithm based on Monte Carlo tree search that dynamically filters acquired information about the flow to plan future paths. We show that net energy gain is feasible under realistic constraints. Glider paths reflect patterns of foraging, where exploration of the flow is interspersed with bouts of energy extraction through localized spirals.
title Energy-positive soaring using transient turbulent fluctuations
topic Fluid Dynamics
Applied Physics
Quantitative Methods
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.05983