Upstroke wing clapping in bats and bat-inspired robots improves both lift generation and power economy

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Fan, Xiaozhou, Bortoni, Alberto, Hao, Siyang, Swartz, Sharon, Breuer, Kenneth
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866916466037620736
author Fan, Xiaozhou
Bortoni, Alberto
Hao, Siyang
Swartz, Sharon
Breuer, Kenneth
author_facet Fan, Xiaozhou
Bortoni, Alberto
Hao, Siyang
Swartz, Sharon
Breuer, Kenneth
contents Wing articulation is critical for efficient flight of bird- and bat-sized animals. Inspired by the flight of $\textit{Cynopterus brachyotis}$, the lesser short-nosed fruit bat, we built a two-degree-of-freedom flapping wing platform with variable wing folding capability. In late upstroke, the wings "clap" and produce an air jet that significantly increases lift production, with a positive peak matched to that produced in downstroke. Though ventral clapping has been observed in avian flight, potential aerodynamic benefit of this behavior has yet to be rigorously assessed. We used multiple approaches -- quasi-steady modeling, direct force/power measurement, and PIV experiments in a wind tunnel -- to understand critical aspects of lift/power variation in relation to wing folding magnitude over Strouhal numbers between $St = 0.2 - 0.4$. While lift increases monotonically with folding amplitude in that range, power economy (ratio of lift/power) is more nuanced. At $St = 0.2 - 0.3$, it increase with wing folding amplitude monotonically. At $St = 0.3 - 0.4$, it features two maxima -- one at medium folding amplitude ($\sim 30^\circ$), and the other at maximum folding. These findings illuminate two strategies available to flapping wing animals and robots -- symmetry-breaking lift augmentation and appendage-based jet propulsion.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_01434
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Upstroke wing clapping in bats and bat-inspired robots improves both lift generation and power economy
Fan, Xiaozhou
Bortoni, Alberto
Hao, Siyang
Swartz, Sharon
Breuer, Kenneth
Fluid Dynamics
Biological Physics
Wing articulation is critical for efficient flight of bird- and bat-sized animals. Inspired by the flight of $\textit{Cynopterus brachyotis}$, the lesser short-nosed fruit bat, we built a two-degree-of-freedom flapping wing platform with variable wing folding capability. In late upstroke, the wings "clap" and produce an air jet that significantly increases lift production, with a positive peak matched to that produced in downstroke. Though ventral clapping has been observed in avian flight, potential aerodynamic benefit of this behavior has yet to be rigorously assessed. We used multiple approaches -- quasi-steady modeling, direct force/power measurement, and PIV experiments in a wind tunnel -- to understand critical aspects of lift/power variation in relation to wing folding magnitude over Strouhal numbers between $St = 0.2 - 0.4$. While lift increases monotonically with folding amplitude in that range, power economy (ratio of lift/power) is more nuanced. At $St = 0.2 - 0.3$, it increase with wing folding amplitude monotonically. At $St = 0.3 - 0.4$, it features two maxima -- one at medium folding amplitude ($\sim 30^\circ$), and the other at maximum folding. These findings illuminate two strategies available to flapping wing animals and robots -- symmetry-breaking lift augmentation and appendage-based jet propulsion.
title Upstroke wing clapping in bats and bat-inspired robots improves both lift generation and power economy
topic Fluid Dynamics
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01434