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All Outputs (45)

Dynamics of hinged wings in strong upward gusts (2023)
Journal Article
Stevenson, J., Cheney, J., Usherwood, J., Bomphrey, R., & Windsor, S. (2023). Dynamics of hinged wings in strong upward gusts. Royal Society Open Science, 10(5), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221607

A bird's wings are articulated to its body via highly mobile shoulder joints. The joints confer an impressive range of motion, enabling the wings to make broad, sweeping movements that can modulate quite dramatically the production of aerodynamic loa... Read More about Dynamics of hinged wings in strong upward gusts.

Seeing with sound; surface detection and avoidance by sensing self-generated noise (2023)
Journal Article
Wilshin, S., Amos, S., & Bomphrey, R. (2023). Seeing with sound; surface detection and avoidance by sensing self-generated noise. International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, 15, 175682932211483. https://doi.org/10.1177/17568293221148377

Here, we demonstrate obstacle and secondary drone avoidance capability by quadcopter drones that can perceive and react to modulation of their self-generated acoustic environment when in proximity to surfaces. A ground truth for the interpretation of... Read More about Seeing with sound; surface detection and avoidance by sensing self-generated noise.

Auditory sensory range of male mosquitoes for the detection of female flight sound (2022)
Journal Article
Nakata, T., Simoes, P., Walker, S., Russell, I., & Bomphrey, R. (2022). Auditory sensory range of male mosquitoes for the detection of female flight sound. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 19(193), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0285

Male mosquitoes detect and localize conspecific females by their flight-tones using the Johnston's organ (JO), which detects antennal deflections under the influence of local particle motion. Acoustic behaviours of mosquitoes and their JO physiology... Read More about Auditory sensory range of male mosquitoes for the detection of female flight sound.

Systematic characterization of wing mechanosensors that monitor airflow and wing deformations (2022)
Journal Article
Fabian, J., Siwanowicz, I., Uhrhan, M., Maeda, M., Bomphrey, R., & Lin, H. (2022). Systematic characterization of wing mechanosensors that monitor airflow and wing deformations. iScience, 25(4), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104150

Animal wings deform during flight in ways that can enhance lift, facilitate flight control, and mitigate damage. Monitoring the structural and aerodynamic state of the wing is challenging because deformations are passive, and the flow fields are unst... Read More about Systematic characterization of wing mechanosensors that monitor airflow and wing deformations.

Virtual manipulation of tail postures of a gliding barn owl (Tyto alba) demonstrates drag minimisation when gliding (2022)
Journal Article
Song, J., Cheney, J., Bomphrey, R., & Usherwood, J. (2023). Virtual manipulation of tail postures of a gliding barn owl (Tyto alba) demonstrates drag minimisation when gliding. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0710

Aerodynamic functions of the avian tail have been studied previously using observations of bird flight, physical models in wind tunnels, theoretical modelling, and flow visualization. However, none of these approaches has provided rigorous, quantitat... Read More about Virtual manipulation of tail postures of a gliding barn owl (Tyto alba) demonstrates drag minimisation when gliding.

Raptor wing morphing with flight speed (2021)
Journal Article
Cheney, J., Stevenson, J., Durston, N., Maeda, M., Song, J., Megson-Smith, D., …Bomphrey, R. (2021). Raptor wing morphing with flight speed. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0349

In gliding flight, birds morph their wings and tails to control their flight trajectory and speed. Using high-resolution videogrammetry, we reconstructed accurate and detailed 3D geometries of gliding flights for three raptors (barn owl, Tyto alba; t... Read More about Raptor wing morphing with flight speed.

Bird wings act as a suspension system that rejects gusts (2020)
Journal Article
Cheney, J. A., Stevenson, J. P. J., Durston, N. E., Song, J., Usherwood, J. R., Bomphrey, R. J., & Windsor, S. P. (2020). Bird wings act as a suspension system that rejects gusts. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1937), 20201748. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1748

Musculoskeletal systems cope with many environmental perturbations without neurological control. These passive preflex responses aid animals to move swiftly through complex terrain. Whether preflexes play a substantial role in animal flight is uncert... Read More about Bird wings act as a suspension system that rejects gusts.

Aerodynamic imaging by mosquitoes inspires a surface detector for autonomous flying vehicles (2020)
Journal Article
Nakata, T., Phillips, N., Simões, P., Russell, I. J., Cheney, J. A., Walker, S. M., & Bomphrey, R. J. (2020). Aerodynamic imaging by mosquitoes inspires a surface detector for autonomous flying vehicles. Science, 368(6491), 634-637. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9634

Some flying animals use active sense to perceive and avoid obstacles. Nocturnal mosquitoes exhibit a behavioral response to divert away from surfaces when vision is unavailable, indicating a short-range, mechanosensory collision avoidance mechanism.... Read More about Aerodynamic imaging by mosquitoes inspires a surface detector for autonomous flying vehicles.

Recent progress on the flight of dragonflies and damselflies (2020)
Journal Article
Nakata, T., Henningsson, P., Lin, H., & Bomphrey, R. J. (2020). Recent progress on the flight of dragonflies and damselflies. International Journal of Odonatology, 23(1), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/13887890.2019.1688502

Remarkable flight performance is key to the survival of adult Odonata. They integrate varied three-dimensional architectures and kinematics of the wings, unsteady aerodynamics, and sensory feedback control in order to achieve agile flight. Therefore,... Read More about Recent progress on the flight of dragonflies and damselflies.

High aerodynamic lift from the tail reduces drag in gliding raptors (2020)
Journal Article
Usherwood, J. R., Cheney, J. A., Song, J., Windsor, S. P., Stevenson, J. P. J., Dierksheide, U., …Bomphrey, R. J. (2020). High aerodynamic lift from the tail reduces drag in gliding raptors. Journal of Experimental Biology, 223, https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.214809

Many functions have been postulated for the aerodynamic role of the avian tail during steady-state flight. By analogy with conventional aircraft, the tail might provide passive pitch stability if it produced very low or negative lift. Alternatively,... Read More about High aerodynamic lift from the tail reduces drag in gliding raptors.

Insect and insect-inspired aerodynamics: unsteadiness, structural mechanics and flight control (2018)
Journal Article
Bomphrey, R. J., & Godoy-Diana, R. (2018). Insect and insect-inspired aerodynamics: unsteadiness, structural mechanics and flight control. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2018.08.003

Flying insects impress by their versatility and have been a recurrent source of inspiration for engineering devices. A large body of literature has focused on various aspects of insect flight, with an essential part dedicated to the dynamics of flapp... Read More about Insect and insect-inspired aerodynamics: unsteadiness, structural mechanics and flight control.

Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight (2017)
Journal Article
Bomphrey, R. J., Nakata, T., Phillips, N., & Walker, S. M. (2017). Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight. Nature, 544, 92-95. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21727

Mosquitoes exhibit unusual wing kinematics; their long, slender wings flap at remarkably high frequencies for their size (>800 Hz)and with lower stroke amplitudes than any other insect group1. This shifts weight support away from the translation-domi... Read More about Smart wing rotation and trailing-edge vortices enable high frequency mosquito flight.

Flight of the dragonflies and damselflies (2016)
Journal Article
Bomphrey, R. J., Nakata, T., Henningsson, P., & Lin, H. (2016). Flight of the dragonflies and damselflies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1704), 20150389. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0389

This work is a synthesis of our current understanding of the mechanics, aerodynamics and visually mediated control of dragonfly and damselfly flight, with the addition of new experimental and computational data in several key areas. These are: the di... Read More about Flight of the dragonflies and damselflies.

Morphomechanical Innovation Drives Explosive Seed Dispersal (2016)
Journal Article
Hofhuis, H., Moulton, D., Lessinnes, T., Routier-Kierzkowska, A. L., Bomphrey, R. J., Mosca, G., …Hay, A. (2016). Morphomechanical Innovation Drives Explosive Seed Dispersal. Cell, 166, 222-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.05.002

How mechanical and biological processes are coordinated across cells, tissues, and organs to produce complex traits is a key question in biology. Cardamine hirsuta, a relative of Arabidopsis thaliana, uses an explosive mechanism to disperse its seeds... Read More about Morphomechanical Innovation Drives Explosive Seed Dispersal.

Enhanced flight performance by genetic manipulation of wing shape in Drosophila (2016)
Journal Article
Ray, R. P., Nakata, T., Henningsson, P., & Bomphrey, R. J. (2016). Enhanced flight performance by genetic manipulation of wing shape in Drosophila. Nature Communications, 7, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10851

Insect wing shapes are remarkably diverse and the combination of shape and kinematics determines both aerial capabilities and power requirements. However, the contribution of any specific morphological feature to performance is not known. Using targe... Read More about Enhanced flight performance by genetic manipulation of wing shape in Drosophila.

A CFD-informed quasi-steady model of flapping-wing aerodynamics (2015)
Journal Article
Nakata, T., Liu, H., & Bomphrey, R. J. (2015). A CFD-informed quasi-steady model of flapping-wing aerodynamics. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 783, 323-343. https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2015.537

Aerodynamic performance and agility during flapping flight are determined by the combination of wing shape and kinematics. The degree of morphological and kinematic optimization is unknown and depends upon a large parameter space. Aimed at providing... Read More about A CFD-informed quasi-steady model of flapping-wing aerodynamics.