Flight activity and age cause wing damage in house flies

Wing damage attenuates aerial performance in many flying animals such as birds, bats and insects. Especially insect wings are fragile and light in order to reduce inertial power requirements for flight at elevated wing flapping frequencies. There is a continuing debate on the factors causing wing damage in insects including collisions with objects, mechanical stress during flight activity, and aging. This experimental study is engaged with the reasons and significance of wing damage for flight in the house fly Musca domestica. We determined natural wing area loss under two housing conditions and recorded flight activity and flight ability throughout the animals’ lifetime. Our data show that wing damage occurs on average after 6 h of flight, is sex-specific, and depends on housing conditions. Statistical tests show that both physiological age and flight activity have similar significance as predictors for wing damage. Tests on freely flying flies showed that minimum wing area for active flight is approximately 10-34% below the initial area and requires a left-right wing area asymmetry of less than approximately 25%. Our findings broadly confirm predictions from simple aerodynamic theory based on mean wing velocity and area, and are also consistent with previous wing damage measurements in other insect species.

ДОСВІД І ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ФОРМУВАННЯ МАСОВИХ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИК МОДИФІКАЦІЙ ВАЖКОГО ТРАНСПОРТНОГО ЛІТАКА

Heavy transport aircraft are built and operated by US airlines (C-5A, C-5B, B-747-400), the European Concern Airbus (A-380), and the ANTONOV domestic state-owned enterprise. Such heavy aircraft as An-22, An-124 and An-225 have received worldwide recognition as the most efficient in their class [1, 2, 3]. It should be noted that such outstanding compatriots as O. K. Antonov, P. V. Balabuev, S. A. Bychkov, V. I. Tolmachev, V.F.Eroshin, O.K.Bogdanov made a decisive contribution to their improvement (including formation of mass characteristics).The main path of development of domestic heavy transport aircraft is to create modifications that meet the ever-increasing requirements of the time and customers to improve their transport and economic performance.The article shows that one of the ways to improve this type aircraft efficiency is the formation of their mass characteristics (i.e., mass of the aircraft modification itself and its individual units), which significantly affect all flight technical and economic parameters.It is proposed to take into account possible changes in four groups of parameters when assessing the starting mass (formed at the initial stages of creating a modification):T - a group of parameters that determine the level of requirements for a new modification;U - a group of parameters that determine the achievement of the stated goals at the stages of creation and operation of the modification;O - a group of parameters that determine the appearance of the future modification;P - a group of parameters that determine the mass and its density in the created modification.Division of the parameters into four groups makes it possible to evaluate and minimize the effect of the objective "square - cube" law on the mass gain in the design, production of a prototype and its flight tests and to represent it in the form of the starting mass of the modification (m0).The effectiveness of using the proposed approach to the formation of mass characteristics is shown on examples of the development of modifications of the An-124-100M and An-124-100M-150 airplanes.A distinctive feature of these modifications are: they were developed twenty years after creation of the base An-124 aircraft, carrying capacity has been increased by 30 tons, takeoff weight has been increased by 7%, the wing area, as well as the takeoff roll and landing run remained unchanged. The empty aircraft mass also remained unchanged, which indicates a special approach to the formation of mass characteristics. At the same time, in these modifications, the carrying capacity and flight performance increased by 25%, which is the highest achievement in the practice of creating aircraft of this type

Kinematics of wings from Caudipteryx to modern birds

This study seeks to better quantify the parameters that drove the evolution of flight from non-volant winged dinosaurs to modern birds. In order to explore this issue, we used fossil data to model the feathered forelimbs of Caudipteryx, the most basal non-volant maniraptoran dinosaur with elongated pennaceous feathers that could be described as forming proto-wings. In order to quantify the limiting flight factors, we created three hypothetical wing profiles for Caudipteryx with incrementally larger wingspans. We compared them with what revealed through fossils in wing morphology. These four models were analyzed under varying air speed, wing beat amplitude, and wing beat frequency to determine lift, thrust potential, and metabolic requirements. We tested these models using theoretical equations in order to mathematically describe the evolutionary changes observed during the evolution of modern birds from a winged terrestrial theropod like Caudipteryx. Caudipteryx could not fly, but this research indicates that with a large enough wing span, Caudipteryx-like animal could have flown. The results of these analyses mathematically confirm that during the evolution of energetically efficient powered flight in derived maniraptorans, body weight had to decrease and wing area/wing profile needed to increase together with the flapping angle and surface area for the attachment of the flight muscles. This study quantifies the morphological changes that we observe in the pennaraptoran fossil record in the overall decrease in body size in paravians, the increased wing surface area in Archaeopteryx relative to Caudipteryx, and changes observed in the morphology of the thoracic girdle, namely, the orientation of the glenoid and the enlargement of the sternum.

Initial sizing of a roadable personal air vehicle using design of experiments for various engine types

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the performances of novel roadable personal air vehicle (PAV) concepts that meet established operational requirements with different types of engines. Design/methodology/approach The vehicle configuration was devised considering the dimensions and operational restrictions of the roads, runways and parking lots in South Korea. A folding wing design was adopted for road operations and parking. The propulsion designs considered herein use gasoline, diesel and hybrid architectures for longer-range missions. The sizing point of the roadable PAV that minimizes the wing area was selected, and the rate of climb, ground roll distance, cruise speed and service ceiling requirements were met. For various engine types and mission profiles, the performances of differently sized PAVs were compared with respect to the MTOW, wing area, wing span, thrust-to-weight ratio, wing loading, power-to-weight ratio, brake horsepower and fuel efficiency. Findings Unlike automobiles, the weight penalty of the hybrid system because of the additional electrical components reduced the fuel efficiency considerably. When the four engine types were compared, matching the total engine system weight, the internal combustion (IC) engine PAVs had better fuel efficiency rates than the hybrid powered PAVs. Finally, a gasoline-powered PAV configuration was selected as the final design because it had the lowest MTOW, despite its slightly worse fuel efficiency compared to that of the diesel-powered engine. Research limitations/implications Although an electric aircraft powered only by batteries most capitalizes on the operating cost, noise and emissions benefits of electric propulsion, it also is most hampered by range limitations. Air traffic integration or any safety, and noise issues were not accounted in this study. Practical implications Aircraft sizing is a critical aspect of a system-level study because it is a prerequisite for most design and analysis activities, including those related to the internal layout as well as cost and system effectiveness analyses. The results of this study can be implemented to design a PAV. Social implications This study can contribute to the establishment of innovative PAV concepts that can alleviate today’s transportation problems. Originality/value This study compared the sizing results of PAVs with hybrid engines with those having IC engines.

Presence and Quantification of Microplastic in Urban Tap Water: A Pre-Screening in Brasilia, Brazil

Plastic pollution is a rapidly growing environmental and human health crisis, with no sign of improvement. From 2012 to 2020, the number of studies on plastic pollution increased, and macro to nano-sized plastics have been documented in the most remote biomes of the planet. Studies have shown contamination by microplastics (MPs) in various types of food consumed by humans, including seafood, honey, sugar, salt, tap and bottled water and beer. This study’s objective was to detect the possible contamination by MPs in drinking water samples collected from two main residential and commercial areas of Brasilia. A total of 32 samples (500 mL) of tap water were collected from residential and commercial areas. Samples were processed and transferred to a Sedgewick-Rafter counting cell chamber. The presence of MP particles was analyzed using a Nikon Eclipse fluorescence microscope. MPs were found in 100% of the samples. The mean microplastic particles per 500 mL found in the South Wing area was 97 ± 55, while the mean number of particles in the North Wing area was 219 ± 158, and the MPs found ranged in size from 6–50 microns. The study results reveal a disturbing amount of MP particles in Brasilia’s tap water. This surprising number of particles in residential and commercial tap water is especially considering that tap water is not the only source of MPs to which people are exposed.

Determination of the Reference Wing Area of Aircraft from Various Aircraft Manufacturers

Purpose - To check whether the reference wing areas of Boeing, Fokker and McDonnell Douglas (MD) were calculated using the methods specified by the manufacturers for calculating the reference wing areas. ---Methodology - Different aircraft from the three manufacturers are selected. The publicly available three-view drawings and the reference wing area published by the manufacturer are used. The areas determined with the three methods are then compared with the given areas. ---Results - With the Boeing 747 and the aircraft from Fokker and MD it could be shown with sufficient certainty that the reference wing area was also determined with the corresponding method of the manufacturer. This could not be shown on the rest of the Boeing aircraft. This could be explained in two ways: It is indicated that Boeing changed the method for determining the reference wing area (hence a "wrong" method may have been used in the calculation), or the information available in the form of drawings and geometric data contained errors. ---Limits of applicability - Slight data variations can easily results in differences in the wing area of one percent. The difference in the values for the reference wing area when comparing the methods with each other is often less than one percent for some aircraft and methods. This shows the difficulties associated with inferring the method used from a recalculation of the reference wing area. ---Value - It is well known that reference wing areas are calculated using different equations depending on the aircraft manufacturer. So far, the manufacturer's information on the reference wing area has been accepted uncritically. This is possible because the final aerodynamic results do not depend on the choice of the reference wing area. Here details have been checked despite the fact that any value for the reference wing area can be used to normalize aerodynamic data.

Design and Analysis of a Rocket-Deployed Flying-Wing UAV

This undergraduate paper demonstrates the design, analysis, and manufacturing of a rocket deployable electric powered experimental unmanned aerial vehicle. The design process begins with defining the volume and dimensions of the allocated payload space for the UAV in the rocket. These dimensions are given by the aerostructures sub team in the Ryerson Rocketry Club. The dimensions given were used to determine the best configuration for the mission. The wing loading, power loading and endurance of the UAV are obtained from the constrained payload volume in the rocket and the avionics system of the of the UAV. The wing area, UAV weight and power requirements were calculated based on the previously determined values. The power requirement determines the motor size and propeller configuration. Aerodynamics, stability, and control were based the selected airfoil and obtained wing area. After completing the design, foam, additive manufacturing, and composite layups were used to create prototypes of the UAV. These prototypes were used to iterate the aircraft and address any immediate changes. The chosen design is a foldable flying wing, once deployed from the rocket has a wingspan of 70 inches, an aspect ratio of 13.35 and a surface area of 367 in2 . A prototype was created to prove the design feasibility of the UAV. The prototype proved to function as planned, capable of gliding, powered flight, and takeoff.

Design and Analysis of a Rocket-Deployed Flying-Wing UAV

This undergraduate paper demonstrates the design, analysis, and manufacturing of a rocket deployable electric powered experimental unmanned aerial vehicle. The design process begins with defining the volume and dimensions of the allocated payload space for the UAV in the rocket. These dimensions are given by the aerostructures sub team in the Ryerson Rocketry Club. The dimensions given were used to determine the best configuration for the mission. The wing loading, power loading and endurance of the UAV are obtained from the constrained payload volume in the rocket and the avionics system of the of the UAV. The wing area, UAV weight and power requirements were calculated based on the previously determined values. The power requirement determines the motor size and propeller configuration. Aerodynamics, stability, and control were based the selected airfoil and obtained wing area. After completing the design, foam, additive manufacturing, and composite layups were used to create prototypes of the UAV. These prototypes were used to iterate the aircraft and address any immediate changes. The chosen design is a foldable flying wing, once deployed from the rocket has a wingspan of 70 inches, an aspect ratio of 13.35 and a surface area of 367 in2 . A prototype was created to prove the design feasibility of the UAV. The prototype proved to function as planned, capable of gliding, powered flight, and takeoff.

Experiments on magnetic interference for a portable airborne magnetometry system using a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for airborne magnetometry offers not only improved access and rapid sampling but also reduced logistics costs. More importantly, the UAV-borne aeromagnetometry can be performed at low altitudes, which makes it possible to resolve fine features otherwise only evident in ground surveys. Developing such a UAV-borne aeromagnetometry system is challenging owing to strong magnetic interference introduced by onboard electric and electronic components. An experiment concerning the static magnetic interference of the UAV was conducted to assess the severity of the interference of a hybrid vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAV. The results of the static experiment show that the wing area is highly magnetic due to the proximity to servomotors and motors, whereas the area along the longitudinal axis of the UAV has a relatively smaller magnetic signature. Assisted by the static experiment and aerodynamic simulations, we first proposed a front-mounting solution with two compact magnetometers. Subsequently, two dynamic experiments were conducted with the setup to assess the dynamic interference of the system. The results of the dynamic experiments reveal that the strongest source of in-flight magnetic interference is the current-carrying cables connecting the battery to the flight controller and that this effect is most influential during pitch maneuvers of the aircraft.

Presence and Quantification of Microplastic in Urban Tap-Water

Background: Plastic pollution is a rapidly growing environmental and human health crisis, with no sign of improvement. Since 2012 the number of studies on plastic pollution has quadrupled, and macro to nano-size plastics have been documented even in the planet's remote biomes. Studies have shown contamination by microplastics (MPs) in various types of food consumed by humans, including seafood, honey, sugar, salt, tap-water and bottled water and beer. The study's objective was to detect the possible contamination by MPs in drinking water samples collected from the two main residential and commercial areas of Brasília.Methods: A total of 32 samples of tap water were collected, 16 samples in the south zone, and 16 samples in the north zone of the city (respectively, South Wing and North Wing). Samples were processed and transferred to the Sedgewick-Rafter counting cell chamber. The presence of MPs particles was analyzed using a Nikon Eclipse fluorescence microscope.Results: MPs were found in 100% of the samples. The mean MPs per 500 ml found in the South Wing area was 97, while the mean number of particles in the North Wing area was 219.Conclusion: The study results reveal a disturbing amount of MP particles in Brasilia's tap-water. This surprising number of particles in tap-water is especially concerning considering that tap-water is not the only source of MPs to which people are exposed. The cumulative and toxicological effect of this chronic exposure is alarming.