Meeting Abstract
The avian downstroke and upstroke is primarily powered by two muscles, the pectoralis and supracoracoideus, respectively. The incredible mass-specific power requirements of these muscles have inspired numerous experimental studies and led many authors to suggest that elastic mechanisms play an important role in counteracting the inertial costs of wing motion. However, elastic energy storage and release has not yet been demonstrated, because capturing in vivo muscle force production and aerodynamic output is challenging. Here we present a dynamic musculoskeletal model that offers a computational solution for describing the function of each muscle-tendon unit. To create a one-wing musculoskeletal model using OpenSim, we simplified the geometry of a Collared-Dove’s (Streptopelia) anatomy. The aerodynamic force production of the wing was estimated using a quasi-steady model, and kinematics were based on previously reported data for similar species. To gauge the model’s sensitivity to several parameters of interest, we varied these parameters around values estimated from biological data. Additionally, we altered tendon properties and tendon-muscle length ratio to assess whether dove tendons are optimized to reduce the energetic costs of flapping flight. The results may give new ideas to integrate elastic storage into flapping aerial robots to make them more efficient.
