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Created to Fly Bio-Aerodynamics – Biological Inspiration for Advanced Aircraft Presented to Arizona Origin Science Association Village Meadows Baptist Church Sierra Vista, Arizona September 20, 2014 Larry Kisner, M.S., Physics Retired Adjunct , Physics, Arizona Christian University AzOSA Secretary, Board Member Founder, Director, World View Outreach Member, Creation Research Society Created to Fly Bio-Aerodynamics – Biological Inspiration for Advanced Aircraft •bird design has inspired the designers of flying machines for over a century •Irreducible complexity of nature’s flying creatures reveals God’s creation •Advances in robotics, computer simulation, aviation have produced amazing designs of flying machines…but they can not come close to what God created. Larry Kisner, AzOSA speaker spent 25 years in the aerospace industry as a research engineer and engineering scientist. He designed and tested advanced aerodynamic concepts for NASA and the Air Force. Created to Fly The Marvels of God’s Creation of Flying Creatures and Man’s Attempt to Fly •Man has always looked to the heavens and aspired to fly •Since the Beginning of Creation on Day 5, Birds have Flown •Birds were Created fully functional to Fly •Man has taken about 6000 years to Design a Flying Machine •Modern Man is Looking to Nature to Design Advanced Aircraft Which is the More Advanced Flying Machine? Created to Fly The Marvels of God’s Creation of Flying Creatures and Man’s Attempt to Fly •Man has always looked to the heavens and aspired to fly •Since the Beginning of Creation on Day 5, Birds have Flown •Birds were Created fully functional to Fly •Man has taken about 6000 years to Design a Flying Machine •Modern Man is Looking to Nature to Design Advanced Aircraft Which is the More Advanced Flying Machine? Birds are Designed With Four Basic Wing Types Each Has Different Aerodynamic Advantages Long Narrow Elliptical Long Pointed Broad Slotted High Speed Take-off and Level Flight Specialists Elliptical or short, rounded wings. This wing shape allows for fast take-off speeds, sprinting ability, and great manoeuvrability. These are found in forest and ground-living birds, especially pheasants, doves, woodpeckers, perching birds (passerines), and the true hawks or accipiters. Gray Hawk shown Long pointed wings without slots. These wings give high speed and fast, level flight. These wings are found on birds that rely on high speed to feed in the air, such as swifts, swallows, and falcons. Lagger Falcon shown High Speed Gliding and Soaring Birds Long, narrow wings. These allow high-speed gliding in the strong winds and help birds take advantage of short spurts of updrafts. These high-aspect-ratio wings are characteristic of soaring sea birds such as gulls and albatrosses. Ring-billed Gull shown Broad, slotted wings. These wings are best for soaring and gliding because they can use warm air updrafts to fly using almost no energy. Birds with these types of wings include hawks, eagles, and vultures. Golden Eagle shown Light Chaser Birds Gallery Photographer Rick Furmanek http://www.lightchaserphotography.com Light Chaser Birds Gallery Photographer Rick Furmanek http://www.lightchaserphotography.com Light Chaser Birds Gallery Photographer Rick Furmanek http://www.lightchaserphotography.com Light Chaser Gallery Photographer Rick Furmanek http://www.lightchaserphotography.com Light Chaser Gallery Photographer Rick Furmanek http://www.lightchaserphotography.com Basic Aerodynamic Forces Lift • Defined as the component of aerodynamic force perpendicular to the relative wind • Lift Coefficient (CL ) – Indicate capacity of an airfoil to generate lift Drag • Defined as the component of the aerodynamic force parallel to the relative wind • Drag Coefficient (CD ) – Indicate capacity of an airfoil to generate drag Stall • High pressure on under surface and low pressure on upper surface • Drag increases greatly and there is no lift • Instead of smooth flow, air separates How Birds Maneuver • Pitch – Rotation about the transverse axis, running horizontally & transversely through the center of gravity – Related to control of speed • Roll – Rotation about the median axis running horizontally & longitudinally – Used to change direction, usually precedes a turn • Yaw – Rotation about the vertical axis – Steering Flight Methods • • • • • Active Flight Hovering Flight Migration Soaring Gliding Flight • Active Flight – Basic requirements: average lift balances weight & average thrust balances drag – Wings do not produce constant lift and thrust throughout the wing stroke • Hovering Flight – Production of a vertical force to balance the weight of the bird – Symmetrical hovering – Asymmetrical hovering • Migration – Birds have well developed vision, a wide hearing range, can detect air pressure changes, and have a magnetic sense that aid in migration – Line formations & cluster formations – A bird diagonally behind the leading bird exploits the upwash created by The routes of satellite tagged Bar-tailed migrating north from New Zealand. This the flight of the leading Godwits species has the longest known non-stop migration bird of any species, up to 10,200 km (6,300 mi). The V formation greatly boosts the efficiency and range of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird in supporting its own weight in flight, in the same way a glider can climb or maintain height indefinitely in rising air. In a V formation of 25 members, each bird can achieve a reduction of induced drag by up to 65% and as a result increase their range by 71%. The birds flying at the tips and at the front are rotated in a timely cyclical fashion to spread flight fatigue equally among the flock members. The V formation greatly boosts the efficiency and range of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird in supporting its own weight in flight, in the same way a glider can climb or maintain height indefinitely in rising air. In a V formation of 25 members, each bird can achieve a reduction of induced drag by up to 65% and as a result increase their range by 71%. The birds flying at the tips and at the front are rotated in a timely cyclical fashion to spread flight fatigue equally among the flock members. • Soaring Flight – Static soaring • Slope soaring • Thermal soaring Source: Birds in Flight, John Kaufmann, 1970 • Soaring Flight – Dynamic soaring Some seabirds dynamically soar by repeatedly diving into the valleys of ocean waves, and then wheeling back up into the air. Albatrosses are particularly adept at exploiting the technique and they use it to travel many thousands of miles using very little energy from flapping. When the bird pulls up into the wind out of the still air in the lee of a wave, it suddenly becomes exposed to a head wind, so the speed of the air over its wings increases. It then turns in the other direction and, with the wind behind it, dives back into the shelter of a wave. This also results in an increase in its airspeed. So by repeating this "wheeling" pattern, the bird can continue flying almost indefinitely without having to put in much effort besides steering. In effect it is harvesting energy from the wind gradient. • Gliding Flight – Main component in soaring flight – Muscles do no mechanical work – Flap-gliding Among birds, flap-gliding is commonly used by medium to large species, where it is regarded to have a lower energetic cost than continuously flapping flight Features That Affect Flight • Geometry of wing – A.R.= wing span / mean wing chord – Wing loading = weight / area • Gliding speed proportional to wing loading • • • • Tail Feet Feathers Alula Features That Affect Flight • Flight feathers The long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (singular remex) while those on the tail are called rectrices (singular rectrix). Their primary function is to aid in the generation of both thrust and lift, thereby enabling flight. The Alula • Basically a thumb • Automatic action • Prevents stall at low speed • Spread wing tips Starling Mute Swan Raised alula Raised alula Source: The Miracle of Flight , Stephen Dalton, 1977 The Alula • The Alula is a design feature of a bird that allows it to fly at high angles of attack without stalling. This feature is used on aircraft that need to take-off and land on short runways (STOL) Wind Tunnel Testing of Bird Wings • Wind tunnel set up takes a lot of design • Dynamometer – Measures lift and drag Black Scoter Wing Redhead Wing C L vs. Angle 2.0 1.5 CL 1.0 0.5 0.0 -15 0 15 30 45 -1.0 B.Scoter(3)7-15 Angle (degrees) CD vs. Angle 0.7 0.6 CD -45 -0.5 -30 B.ScoterAlula HeldDown B.ScoterActual AlulaUp Redhead(2)7-16 0.5 RedhaedAlulaUp 0.4 Airfoil 0.3 PIV Results for Redhead Wing Design Features That Affect Stealth • Tiny serrations on the leading edge of their remiges help owls to fly silently and therefore hunt more successfully. Design Features of Feathers for Support • The extra-stiff rectrices of woodpeckers help them to brace against tree trunks as they hammer. A Matter of Life and Breath Birds breathe differently from both mammals and reptiles, and even from dinosaurs. The respiratory system of a bird enables oxygen to be fed straight into air sacs which are connected directly to the heart, lungs and stomach. This system keeps air flowing in one direction through special tubes (parabronchi) in the lung, and blood moves through the lung’s blood vessels in the opposite direction for efficient oxygen uptake, an excellent engineering design. Biomimicry or Bionics Applications Insects – spy robots that can cover varied terrain, climb walls, panoramic vision, morphing wings for stealthy manovering. Butterfly scales reflect light – Qualcomm developed displays for hand held smart devices that use almost zero power when static. Shark skin – reduced drag by manipulating boundary layer while swimming. Applied to submarines, aircraft fuselages (Airbus), Speedo Fastskin swimsuits. Diatoms – valve feature applied to nanodevices, used to deliver drugs to specific targets in the body. Dolphin nose – improved efficiency of oceanic vessels Lotus effect – windshield wipers and water repellent metal Biomimicry or Bionics Applications Plant photosynthesis – applied to more efficient fuel cells Humpback whale flipper – next generation wind turbine blades Rodents teeth – sharp tool design Healing power of body – self healing plastics Gecko tape – microscopic fibers on tape mimic gecko design Streamlining Principle – sea shell spiral design applied to fans, impellers, mixers…PAX scientific design 15% more efficient The nighttime twinkling of fireflies has inspired scientists to modify a light-emitting diode (LED) so it is more than one and a half times as efficient as the original. Researchers from Belgium, France, and Canada studied the internal structure of firefly lanterns, the organs on the bioluminescent insects' abdomens that flash to attract mates. The scientists identified an unexpected pattern of jagged scales that enhanced the lanterns' glow, and applied that knowledge to LED design to create an LED overlayer that mimicked the natural structure. The overlayer, which increased LED light extraction by up to 55 percent, could be easily tailored to existing diode designs to help humans light up the night while using less energy. Biomimicry good bad? DaimlerChrysler Research department have for the first time looked for a specific example in nature which not only approximates to the idea of an aerodynamic, safe, comfortable and environmentally compatible car in terms of details, but as a formal and structural whole. The example arrived at was the boxfish. Does this fish remind you of some of the new car designs? Bat Sonar Design Finding with frequencies Bats send out harmonic pairs of frequencies to sense where things are. The strength differences in the high and low frequencies in the pair (minimal in red, greater in blue) help the bat focus on the target front Bats demonstrate remarkable skill in and center.Image: James tracking targets such as bugs through Simmons/Brown University trees in the dark of night. Simmons Claims the bat’s ability comes from the physics of the echolocation sound waves and how bat brains have evolved to process their signal. “This is a better way to design a radar or sonar system if you need it to perform well in real-time for a small vehicle in complicated tasks,” Bat sonar design is supported by the Office of Naval Research A recent study by Nir Nesher and his team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, published in Current Biology, reveals how a self-recognition mechanism prevents octopuses from getting in a twist. A self-avoidance mechanism of this sort could have major implications for the design of robots and for use in artificial intelligence. In particular, creating a bio-inspired robot whose limbs can react to changes in terrain, for example, without needing instructions from central processors can have implications for advancing technologies in search and rescue operations. Portugal S J Exp Biol 2014;217:2987-2988 ©2014 by The Company of Biologists Ltd The strong, flapping flight of bats offers great possibilities for the design of small aircraft, among other applications. By building a robotic bat wing, Brown researchers have uncovered flight secrets of real bats: the function of ligaments, the elasticity of skin, the structural support of musculature, skeletal flexibility, upstroke, and downstroke. Describing the robot and presenting results from preliminary experiments is published in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics. The work was done in labs of Brown professors Kenneth Breuer and Sharon Swartz. Biomimicry in not New Since the beginning of creation man has dreamed of being able to fly The first successful flight by the Wright Brothers was aided by insight from observing birds “warp” their wings to achieve stability To maximize a plane's efficiency over a broader range of flight speeds, Penn State engineers have developed a concept for morphing airplane wings that change shape like a bird's and are covered with a segmented outer skin like the scales of a fish. The Wright brothers gained insight by studying how birds change the angle of their wings in order to roll to the left or right. They figured that an aircraft could be controlled in the same manner by "wing warping". After proving this theory or wing warping by attaching control lines to twist the sides of a box-kite while in flight, they decided to build a glider that incorporated wing warping. Man’s Design vs. God’s Design Engineers working on futuristic spy planes are taking flight lessons from seagulls. Robotic drones developed in a military-funded project change their wing shape to navigate urban areas. The goal: to soar down a boulevard and swoop between buildings. Man’s Design vs. God’s Design Nature is inspiring the design of the next generation of drones, or flying robots, that will be used for everything from military surveillance to search and rescue. In the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, 14 research teams reveal their latest experimental drones. The designs are inspired by birds, bats, and insects. Aerial robotics expert Prof David Lentink, from Stanford University, says that bio-inspiration is pushing drone technology forward, because evolution has solved challenges that drone engineers are just beginning to address."There is no drone that can avoid a wind turbine,"And it is very difficult for drones to fly in urban environments," where there are obstacles to navigate, Beyond Our Design Capabilities "If you fly in the urban canyon, through alleys, around parking garages and between buildings, you need to do sharp turns, spins and dives," said project leader Rick Lind, an aerospace engineer at the University of Florida. "That means you need to change the shape of the aircraft during flight." Lind previously worked at NASA and helped develop shape-changing wings for the F-18 fighter jet. Since then, he has re-examined how the Wright Brothers controlled their early planes by twisting wings instead of using flaps. Then he pondered the true masters of flight. "Birds morph all the time, and they're very agile," Lind said. "There's no reason we can't achieve the same control that birds achieve." Lind's colleague, doctoral student Mujahid Abdulrahim, photographed agile seagulls in action, then developed a prototype drone based on the gulls' ability to flex at the shoulder and elbow. Elbows straight, the plane glides well. Elbows down, it loses stability but is highly maneuverable. Elbows up, control is maximized for landing. Tiny motors move the wings through the full range of motion in 12 seconds, "fast enough to use in a city landscape," Abdulrahim said. The drone can execute three 360-degree rolls in one second, the engineers say. An F-16 fighter, they note, can manage at least one roll in a second, but three rolls would produce excessive g's, killing the pilot. Beyond Our Design Capabilities Flapping flight is inherently unsteady, but that’s why it works so well. Birds, bats and insects fly in a messy environment full of gusts traveling at speeds similar to their own. Yet they can react almost instantaneously and adapt with their flexible wings. Shyy and his colleagues at U of M have several grants from the Air Force totaling more than $1 million a year to research small flapping wing aircraft. Such aircraft would fly slower than their fixed wing counterparts, and more importantly, they would be able to hover and possibly perch in order to monitor the environment or a hostile area. A more reasonable explanation: God designed the dragonfly Beyond Our Design Capabilities Shyy’s current focus is on the aerodynamics of flexible wings related to micro air vehicles with wingspans between 1 and 3 inches. “These days, if you want to design a flapping wing vehicle, you could build one with trial and error, but in a controlled environment with no wind gusts,” Shyy said. “We are trying to figure out how to design a vehicle that can perform a mission in an uncertain environment. When the wind blows, how do they stay on course?” A dragonfly, Shyy says, has remarkable resilience to wind, considering how light it is. The professor chalks that up to its wing structure and flight control. But the details are still questions. “We’re really just at the beginning of this,” Shyy said. A more reasonable explanation: God designed the dragonfly Man’s Design vs. God’s Design A Blackbird jet flying nearly 2,000 miles per hour covers 32 body lengths per second. But a common pigeon flying at 50 miles per hour covers 75. The roll rate of the aerobatic A-4 Skyhawk plane is about 720 degrees per second. The roll rate of a barn swallow exceeds 5,000 degrees per second. Select military aircraft can withstand gravitational forces of 8-10 G. Birds routinely experience positive G-forces greater than 10 to 14 G. “Natural flyers have some highly varied mechanical properties that we really have not incorporated in engineering,” Wei Shyy, chair of Aerospace Engineering, U of Michigan. “They’re not only lighter, but also have much more adaptive structures as well as capabilities of integrating aerodynamics with wing and body shapes, which change all the time,” “Natural flyers have outstanding capabilities to remain airborne through wind gusts, rain, and snow.” Shyy photographs birds to help him understand their aerodynamics. Australian Defense Science and Technology Australian National University Research A joint DSTO-ANU team traveled to the United States to demonstrate a small unmanned delta-wing aircraft featuring information-processing technology drawn from insects at a NASA test range in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles. The demonstration was intended to show that small aircraft equipped with an array of simple sensors, including cameras, can avoid collision with the ground even over rough terrain, says project leader Javaan Chahl, of DSTO. Chahl and colleagues analyzed the ocelli, an obscure sensor organ in dragonfly heads, and found a complex optical and neural arrangement that helps the insects maintain level flight under adverse conditions. Australian Defense Science and Technology (cont) Chahl's team has developed electronic ocelli based on those found in dragonflies, according to DSTO, to measure the distribution of ultraviolet and green light to maintain level flight. They also have borrowed from the insect world to develop a sun compass that uses the polarization pattern of skylight. The success of the US forces' Global Hawk and Predator unmanned aircrafts during the Afghanistan and Gulf conflicts enhanced their standings as significant battle-zone assets for surveillance roles and remoteweapons platforms. But these craft are vulnerable, because they depend on several technologies, including radar, (GPS), which can be used to compute position, velocity, and time; other active devices for navigation; and radio links to pilot controllers. Their transmissions can expose the aircraft and controllers to counter-attack, compromising their role in covert surveillance. Biomimicry or Bionics and Evolution Bionics research does not mean copying nature. The aim is rather to understand its principles and use them as a stimulus for innovations. The inventions of nature, which have been developed and continuously improved over millions of years, provide an inexhaustible reservoir of ideas and inspirations from which not only technology can benefit. More than ever before, bionics can also further the cause of environmental protection. Many of the innovative concepts which engineers and scientists are adopting from nature correspond to the principle of sustainability. Nature always achieves its objectives economically, with the minimum energy, conserves its resources and completely recycles its waste – an example which is well worth following. Biomimicry or Bionics and Evolution The comparatively recent research area of bionics is actually an inter-disciplinary subject which combines engineering science, architecture and mathematics. The basic principle is to make nature's ideas and problem solutions, which have stood the test of time over millions of years of evolution, usable for man. There is no doubt that nature is the best engineer and most ingenious designer of all. University of Cambridge Research and Evolution Industry, commerce and the military are all interested in developing 'micro-air vehicles' (MAVs), tiny aircraft for reconnaissance inside buildings and other confined spaces. Charles Ellington of the University of Cambridge, UK, says designers will take a leaf out of nature's book: insects are great little MAVs, perfected by an R&D programme stretching back 350 million years. In the Journal of Experimental Biology, Ellington looks at the principles of insect flight that could be emulated by MAV designers. Engineers will have to throw away their textbooks "insects cannot fly according to the conventional laws of aerodynamics", says Ellington. By the usual rules of aerodynamics, the tiny wings of bumble-bees would should never get them off the ground - let alone allow them to be the exquisitely manoeuvrable aeronauts they evidently are. University of Cambridge Research and Evolution Insects get around their handicaps in two ways. First, they exert precise control over their attitude in flight, minutely changing the profile and shape of their wings and bodies from moment to moment according to their circumstances. MAV design will have to abandon fixed wings and incorporate this concept of flexible, 'intelligent' aerofoils. Second, insects use what Ellington calls 'unsteady high-lift mechanisms' - tricks to generate more lift than you might expect from conventional aerodynamics. One such trick is found in the very tiniest insects, with wingspans of the order of a millimetre or so, to which the air seems much more viscous than it does to us - more like water than air. This has lead some to suggest that such insects might abandon aerodynamics altogether and swim, rather than fly through the air. University of Cambridge Research More recent study shows, in contrast, that tiny insects use lift in an ingenious way. The wasp Encarsia formosa, for example, beats its minute wings (spanning 1.5 mm) 400 times a second. Their wing motion is similar to that of most insects except that at the top of the upstroke, Encarsia formosa 's wings clap together and are then flung apart. Air moving into the vacuum created by the 'fling' sets up vortices circulating around the wings that increase lift more than you might expect from the shapes of the wings alone. A MAV that clapped its wings together hundreds of times a second, however, might soon bash itself to pieces. University of Cambridge Research Larger insects employ what is called 'dynamic stall': their mode of flight also generates vortices of air around the wing margins, and hence lift, so that the insects get caught up in their own slipstreams. But this mode of flight is inherently unstable, and insects must constantly manoeuvre themselves out of the stall before gravity forces them to earth. So what can engineers learn from insects? The first insectinspired MAVs, thinks Ellington, will be able to independently adjust the flapping rate and angle of each wing. Initially, such 'intelligent' wings will be like tiny sails, with a stiff leading edge supporting a membrane, additionally supported by a boom at the base. MAVs with short, fast-flapping wings would be able to fly much faster than MAVs with longer, slower wings - but at the price of greatly increased power consumption. Flying Dinosaurs? Dinosaurs evolved into birds History of Evolution and Birds National Geographic Society and the feathered dinosaur “Archaeoraptor” October 15, 1999 The story exposed History of Evolution and Birds R. Monastersky, “All mixed up over birds and dinosaurs,” Science News, January 15, 2000 “Red-faced and downhearted, paleontologists are growing convinced that they have been snookered by a bit of fossil fakery from China. The ‘feathered dinosaur’ specimen that they recently unveiled to much fanfare apparently combines the tail of a dinosaur with the body of a bird.” Bird Evolution? 2008 Article on Microraptor Evolution of Flight? Man’s Idea God’s Creation Bird Evolution is Impossible For a bird to be able to fly, many components must work together. Suppose we have an ‘almost’ bird with all the above structures—viz. feathers, preening gland, hollow bones, direct respiration (unique lung), warm blood, swivel joint and forward-facing elbow joint, but no tail! Controlled flight would still be impossible. Pitch or longitudinal stability (i.e. along the direction of flight) can be achieved only with a tail structure, which most children soon realize when making paper airplanes! Bird Evolution is Impossible The tail is essential, but also needs muscles to vary its small, but all-important wing surface—for instance, holding the plumage spread out and downwards when coming in to land. In other words the tail is little use as a static ‘add-on’. It must have the means of altering its shape in flight. All these mechanisms are controlled by a nervous system connected to the on-board computer in the bird’s brain, preprogrammed to allow a wide envelope of complicated aerodynamic maneuvers. Bird Evolution is Impossible Modern airplanes are an example of man’s creativity and intelligence. This should not be surprising, since man was created in the image of God, who was the first to make flying machines. God’s flying machines are far more complicated than man’s—they can even repair and reproduce themselves. So how much more do they declare ‘his eternal power and divine nature’ (Romans 1:20)!