A review of the research status and progress on the aerodynamic mechanism of bird wings

Song, Bifeng; Lang, Xinyu; Xue, Dong; Yang, Wenqing; Bao, Han; Liú, Dan; Wu, Tao; Liu, Kang; Song, Wenping; Wang, Yue

doi:10.1360/sst-2020-0515

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…A typical macroscopic flutter of a bird’s wings consists of waving, twisting, sweeping, and folding [ 28 ], as shown in Figure 3 b. Among them, waving motion is the most fundamental type of flapping, and other motions play distinct roles by superimposing waving [ 29 ]. And for the BFAV, it is mainly based on the Anti-Karman vortex street principle to obtain propulsion in order to achieve effective endurance flight performance and maximum propulsion efficiency [ 27 ].…”

Section: Mechanism Of Bird Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Under inertial and aerodynamic loads, different flutter area distributions generate varying degrees of torsional deformation in their various spreading profiles. This twist modifies the magnitude of flapping lift by altering the size of the leading-edge vortex and the direction of the differential pressure forces on the upper and lower surfaces of the wing [ 29 ]. To achieve wing deformation and subsequently control the forces interacting with the air, the BFAV uses a flexible wing.…”

Section: Mechanism Of Bird Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Review of the Flight Control Method of a Bird-like Flapping-Wing Air Vehicle

Fang,

Wen,

Gao

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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The Bird-like Flapping-wing Air Vehicle (BFAV) is a robotic innovation that emulates the flight patterns of birds. In comparison to fixed-wing and rotary-wing air vehicles, the BFAV offers superior attributes such as stealth, enhanced maneuverability, strong adaptability, and low noise, which render the BFAV a promising prospect for numerous applications. Consequently, it represents a crucial direction of research in the field of air vehicles for the foreseeable future. However, the flapping-wing vehicle is a nonlinear and unsteady system, posing significant challenges for BFAV to achieve autonomous flying since it is difficult to analyze and characterize using traditional methods and aerodynamics. Hence, flight control as a major key for flapping-wing air vehicles to achieve autonomous flight garners considerable attention from scholars. This paper presents an exposition of the flight principles of BFAV, followed by a comprehensive analysis of various significant factors that impact bird flight. Subsequently, a review of the existing literature on flight control in BFAV is conducted, and the flight control of BFAV is categorized into three distinct components: position control, trajectory tracking control, and formation control. Additionally, the latest advancements in control algorithms for each component are deliberated and analyzed. Ultimately, a projection on forthcoming directions of research is presented.

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Section: Mechanism Of Bird Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanism Of Bird Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the Flight Control Method of a Bird-like Flapping-Wing Air Vehicle

Fang,

Wen,

Gao

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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“…Rotary-wing generates lift and thrust through the interaction of airflow produced by the rotation of two propeller blades [5][6]. Flapping-wing generates lift by adjusting the vibration frequency and angle of flapping wings to form a series of vortices and eddies, thus creating a low-pressure area below the wings and obtaining upward lift [7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

2D Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation for the Interpretation of Formation Flight Phenomena in Birds

Duan

2024

Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications

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Formation flight of birds is a common phenomenon in nature. Birds can fly efficiently in formation through close coordination and communication. With the rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, formation flight has become one of the popular research topics. The study of the aerodynamic principle of bird formation flight can provide new ideas and methods for UAV formation flight. In this study, the household incompressible unsteady Navier-Stokes solver based on the finite volume method was used to study the aerodynamic characteristics of formation flight arranged in a straight line with second-order spatial and temporal discretization schemes. By numerical simulation of the flow field around two NACA0012 airfoils, the velocity, pressure gradient, and vorticity distribution around two airfoils in a two-dimensional (2D) plane were studied and the mechanical characteristics were analyzed. The following conclusions are drawn. In the linear formation flight, the rear airfoil has a higher lift coefficient, lower pressure drag coefficient, and lower viscous drag coefficient than the front one. Combined with the dynamic simulation, the principle of vortex shedding and wake interference as the cause of lift is explained from the perspective of vorticity.

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“…However, compared to birds that have evolved in nature for millions of years, the current flight performance of various types of FMAV is still far from theirs, especially in terms of maneuverability and flight control. Birds in nature often achieve stable flight in different situations by coupling multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) complex flapping motions (plunging, twisting, sweeping and folding), while they can achieve flight attitude control by asymmetric flapping of two wings [6,7]. Over millions of years of evolution, many small-scale feather structures have evolved on bird wings that would likewise be of great assistance to birds in flight [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is located at the junction of the hand and arm wing, and consists of finger bones and 2-3 pieces of feathers. It is often deployed during the take-off, landing and maneuvering phases to delay the flow separation and increase the lift [7,9,10]. Most species of birds have the alula, but the degree of its evolution varies depending on their habits [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerodynamic performance of flapping wing with alula under different kinematics of complex flapping motion

Bao,

Song,

et al. 2023

Bioinspir. Biomim.

Self Cite

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The flight of birds is a remarkable feat, and their remarkable ability to fly derives from complex multi-degree-of-freedom flapping motions and small-scale feather structures that have evolved over millions of years. One of these feather structures is the alula, which can enhance the birds’ flight performance at low speeds and large angles of attack. Previous studies on the alula have focused on the steady state. This undoubtedly ignores the unsteady effect caused by complex flapping motion, which is also the most important characteristic of avian flight. Therefore, this paper carries out a study on the effect of different motion modes and motion parameters on the aerodynamic mechanism of the alula. Previous studies found the dominate effect in the lift enhancement is influenced by Reynolds number, stall condition and geometric parameters. After coupling complex flapping motion, aerodynamic characteristics of the flapping wing are greatly influenced by different motion patterns and parameters. For pure plunge motion, both the slot effect and the vortex generator effect of the alula dominate the lift enhancement; while for plunge-twist and plunge-sweep motion, the vortex generator dominates more. At a low plunge amplitude, a low twist amplitude and a low sweep amplitude, the deflection of the alula has a good lift enhancement compared with the baseline wing. Increasing these amplitudes attenuates both the slot effect and the vortex generator effect. The alula can enhance the lift by 10.4% at the plunge amplitude of 25 deg (for pure plunge motion), by 7.9% at the plunge amplitude of 25 deg and twist amplitude of 10 deg (for plunge-twist motion), by 3.3% at the plunge amplitude of 25 deg and sweep amplitude of 15 deg (for plunge-sweep motion). Meanwhile, at a large sweep phase angle, the alula has a better lift enhancement. Increasing the phase angle enhances the vortex generator effect of the alula, and it has an optimal lift enhancement effect of 11% at the phase angle of 180 deg.

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A review of the research status and progress on the aerodynamic mechanism of bird wings

Cited by 8 publications

References 87 publications

Review of the Flight Control Method of a Bird-like Flapping-Wing Air Vehicle

Review of the Flight Control Method of a Bird-like Flapping-Wing Air Vehicle

2D Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation for the Interpretation of Formation Flight Phenomena in Birds

Aerodynamic performance of flapping wing with alula under different kinematics of complex flapping motion

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