Meeting Abstract
Our understanding of how animals fly has been greatly advanced by the development of specialized wind tunnels for animal flight. Existing world-class facilities can simulate flight conditions ranging from laminar flow and ascending versus descending flight to different atmospheric altitudes. However, the atmosphere in which animals fly is even more complex. Flow can be extraordinarily laminar and quiet at higher altitudes, while highly turbulent flow exists near the ground. To study how animals perform and control their flight in such diverse conditions, we developed a new closed-return wind tunnel for comparative biomechanics research. The flight chamber has exceptionally low noise and turbulence levels of 0.015%, which is closer to conditions at cruise altitude. An active turbulence generation system enables us to simulate turbulence intensities typical of near ground habitats for the first time. Furthermore, an open jet configuration enables stereo high-speed fluoroscopy for studying musculoskeletal control in the wind tunnel. Finally, the wind tunnel’s wide speed range from 0 to 50 m/s, its exceptionally low turbulence and noise levels, as well as its remarkable velocity and temperature stability are ideal for studying the low Reynolds number aerodynamics of both flying animals and bio-inspired aerial robots.
