DEVELOPMENT OF A GUST GENERATOR FOR AVIAN RESEARCH
Abstract
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. We have successfully trained kestrels to wind hover (without flapping) in the RMIT Industrial Wind Tunnel and tracked their kinematics successfully using a motion capture system. The use of a wind tunnel allows flow characteristics to be carefully controlled and measured, providing great advantages over outdoor flight tests. The proposed work describes the development and testing of a gust generator to study the response of birds to discrete gusts. By measuring the animal’s response to discrete gusts, we will reveal strategies employed in the natural world to hold straight and level flight. The understanding gained will give insight into the design philosophy and control strategies for aircraft, where holding a relatively stable viewing platform is extremely difficult, but is required if useful flight can be achieved under a range of wind conditions and through complex terrains. Thus, our research questions are: 1. How do birds deal with discrete gusts while wind hovering? 1.1. In what way does wing kinematics-wing shape change when encountering a gust? 1.2. How do these changes correspond to the properties of the gust (intensity, frequency, length scale, orientation)?
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2023
- Source ID
- FA23862210076
Entities
People
- Abdulghani Mohamed
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- RMIT University
- United States Air Force