A computational investigation of lift generation and power expenditure of Pratt's roundleaf bat (Hipposideros pratti) in forward flight.

ABSTRACT: The aerodynamic mechanisms of bat flight have been studied using a numerical approach. Kinematic data acquired using a high resolution motion capture system was employed to simulate the unsteady air flow around a bat's wings. A flapping bat wing contains many degrees of freedom, which make 3D motion tracking challenging. In order to overcome this challenge, an optical motion capture system of 21 cameras was used to reduce wing self-occlusion. Over the course of a meter-long flight, 108 discrete marker points on the bat's wings (Pratt's roundleaf bat, Hipposideros pratti) were tracked. The time evolution of the surface of each wing was computationally reconstructed in 3D space. The resulting kinematic model was interfaced with an unsteady incompressible flow solver using the immersed bounda

SUBMITTER: Windes P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6261594 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature