A method for continuous study of soaring and windhovering birds

Avian flight continues to inspire aircraft designers. Reducing the scale of autonomous aircraft to that of birds and large insects has resulted in new control challenges when attempting to hold steady flight in turbulent atmospheric wind. Some birds, however, are capable of remarkably stable hoverin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2022-04, Vol.12 (1), p.7038-7038, Article 7038
Main Authors: Penn, Matthew, Yi, George, Watkins, Simon, Martinez Groves-Raines, Mario, Windsor, Shane P., Mohamed, Abdulghani
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/601/18
639/166/984
Aircraft
Animals
Atmospheric turbulence
Birds
Birds - physiology
Falconiformes
Flight
Flight behavior
Flight, Animal - physiology
Flow characteristics
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Wind tunnels
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Summary:Avian flight continues to inspire aircraft designers. Reducing the scale of autonomous aircraft to that of birds and large insects has resulted in new control challenges when attempting to hold steady flight in turbulent atmospheric wind. Some birds, however, are capable of remarkably stable hovering flight in the same conditions. This work describes the development of a wind tunnel configuration that facilitates the study of flapless windhovering (hanging) and soaring bird flight in wind conditions replicating those in nature. Updrafts were generated by flow over replica “hills” and turbulence was introduced through upstream grids, which had already been developed to replicate atmospheric turbulence in prior studies. Successful flight tests with windhovering nankeen kestrels ( Falco cenchroides ) were conducted, verifying that the facility can support soaring and wind hovering bird flight. The wind tunnel allows the flow characteristics to be carefully controlled and measured, providing great advantages over outdoor flight tests. Also, existing wind tunnels may be readily configured using this method, providing a simpler alternative to the development of dedicated bird flight wind tunnels such as tilting wind tunnels, and the large test section allows for the replication of orographic soaring. This methodology holds promise for future testing investigating the flight behaviour and control responses employed by soaring and windhovering birds.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-10359-w