Alden Midmer, Christoph Brücker, Matthias Weger, Hermann Wagner, Horst Bleckmann
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The silent flight of barn owls is associated with wing and feather specialisations. Three special features are known: a serrated leading edge that is formed by free-standing barb tips which appears as a comb-like structure, a soft dorsal surface, and a fringed trailing edge. We used a model of the leading edge comb with 3D-curved serrations that was designed based on 3D micro-scans of rows of barbs from selected barn-owl feathers. The interaction of the flow with the serrations was measured with Particle-Image-Velocimetry in a flow channel at uniform steady inflow and was compared to the situation of inflow with freestream turbulence, generated from the turbulent wake of a cylinder placed upstream. In steady uniform flow, the serrations caused regular velocity streaks and a flow turning effect. When vortices of different size impacted the serrations, the serrations reduced the flow fluctuations downstream in each case, exemplified by a decreased root-mean-square value of the fluctuations in the wake of the serrations. This attenuation effect was stronger for the spanwise velocity component, leading to an overall flow homogenization. Our findings suggest that the serrations of the barn owl provide a passive flow control leading to reduced leading-edge noise when flying in turbulent environments.
期刊介绍:
Bioinspiration & Biomimetics publishes research involving the study and distillation of principles and functions found in biological systems that have been developed through evolution, and application of this knowledge to produce novel and exciting basic technologies and new approaches to solving scientific problems. It provides a forum for interdisciplinary research which acts as a pipeline, facilitating the two-way flow of ideas and understanding between the extensive bodies of knowledge of the different disciplines. It has two principal aims: to draw on biology to enrich engineering and to draw from engineering to enrich biology.
The journal aims to include input from across all intersecting areas of both fields. In biology, this would include work in all fields from physiology to ecology, with either zoological or botanical focus. In engineering, this would include both design and practical application of biomimetic or bioinspired devices and systems. Typical areas of interest include:
Systems, designs and structure
Communication and navigation
Cooperative behaviour
Self-organizing biological systems
Self-healing and self-assembly
Aerial locomotion and aerospace applications of biomimetics
Biomorphic surface and subsurface systems
Marine dynamics: swimming and underwater dynamics
Applications of novel materials
Biomechanics; including movement, locomotion, fluidics
Cellular behaviour
Sensors and senses
Biomimetic or bioinformed approaches to geological exploration.