“ Animal Flight Dynamics II. Longitudinal Stability in Flapping flight” [Journal of Theoretical Biology 214 (2002) 351–370]

2003 ◽  
Vol 221 (4) ◽  
pp. 671 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.K. TAYLOR ◽  
A..L.R. THOMAS
2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haithem E. Taha ◽  
Craig A. Woolsey ◽  
Muhammad R. Hajj

2005 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Taylor

AbstractHere a conceptual framework is provided for analysing the role of the flight muscles in stability and control. Stability usually refers to the tendency of a system to return to a characteristic reference state, whether static, as in gliding, or oscillatory, as in flapping. Asymptotic Lyapunov stability and asymptotic orbital stability as formal definitions of gliding and flapping flight stability, respectively, are discussed and a limit cycle control analogy for flapping flight control proposed. Stability can arise inherently or through correctional control. Conceptually, inherent stability is that which would arise if all body parts were rigid and all articulation angles were constants (gliding) or periodic functions (flapping), both of which require muscular effort. Pose can be maintained during disturbances by neural feedback or isometric contraction of tonic muscles: cyclic pose changes can be buffered by neural feedback or viscous damping by phasic muscles. Correctional control serves to drive the system towards its reference state, which will usually involve a phasic response, if only because of the tendency of flying bodies to oscillate during disturbances. Muscles involved in correctional control must therefore be tuned to the characteristic frequencies of the system. Furthermore, in manoeuvre control, these frequencies set an upper limit on the timescales on which control inputs can be effective. Flight muscle physiology should therefore be evolutionarily co-tuned with the morphological parameters of the system that determine its frequency response. Understanding this fully will require us to integrate internal models of physiology with external models of flight dynamics.


2001 ◽  
Vol 212 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADRIAN L.R. THOMAS ◽  
GRAHAM K. TAYLOR

1987 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. SPEDDING

The structure of the wake behind a kestrel in medium-speed flight down a 36 m length of corridor was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively by stereophotogrammetry of multiple flash photographs of the motion of small soap-covered helium bubbles. The wake consists of a pair of continuous, undulating trailing vortices. The upstroke is therefore aerodynamically active and the circulation appears to remain constant along the wing whose geometry is altered during the course of the wingstroke. It is argued that the flight kinematics, and so the wake structure, of the kestrel may be typical of flapping flight at medium speeds and a flight model based on this wake geometry is presented. Rough estimates of the rate of momentum generated in the wake balance the weight almost exactly and a direct estimate of the induced power requirement from the wake measurements is obtained. The significance of these results for the various alternative aerodynamic descriptions and energetic predictions of models of flapping animal flight is briefly assessed


1942 ◽  
Vol 46 (374) ◽  
pp. 39-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Von Holst ◽  
Dietrich Kuchemann

The recurring discussions regarding human flapping flight (if possible, by muscle-power!) have done more harm than good, because they distract attention from other more important subjects.For example, the heed for the faster and larger flying creatures (such as large birds) and for high-speed aeroplanes to reduce speed when necessary, without corresponding loss of lift. All kinds of “ high lift devices ” have been invented for aeroplanes. All are based on the principle of making possible a steeper angle of attack or a higher wing-camber, thus giving greater lift without causing eddies that would lead to a break-away of the airflow on the upper surface.


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