Get Started for FREE
Sign up with Facebook Sign up with X
I don't have a Facebook or a X account
 Your new post is loading...
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
The growing science of biomimicry focuses on what humanity can learn from the world, and Airbus engineers are learning quite a lot about efficient solutions for aircraft design that nature has spent millions of years refining. 
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Scoop.it!
"Boeing Co. and NASA have found an inexpensive way to cut airline fuel bills by borrowing a trick from the world’s greatest long-distance aviators: migratory birds. By lining up cruising aircraft in a V-shaped formation favored by Canada geese, carriers would be able to produce a leap in efficiency without investing in structural makeovers or futuristic technology. The idea is to link the flying convoys safely using navigation and collision-avoidance tools that already are widely installed in cockpits."
Scoop.it!
Plenty of birds fly vast distances on their migratory trips around planet Earth. But the most amazing of all might the frigate bird, which can stay aloft for two months straight without landing or resting. How the heck do they do that?
Marcelo Errera's curator insight,
July 4, 2016 3:19 PM
A design that evolved together with a flight plan. Evolution is simultaneous for all traits.
In order to move mass over the Earth surface, i.e., to make energy flow, systems evolved in order to reduce the exergy expenditure.
Scoop.it!
"Inspired by nature's own anti-turbulence devices – feathers – researchers have developed an innovative system that could spell the end of turbulence on flights. Researchers from the Unmanned Systems Research Team at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have lodged a provisional patent on the system, which mimics the way feathers help birds detect disturbances in the air."
Zachary12's curator insight,
November 3, 2014 4:17 PM
This is a an great idea and concept for flight similar to that comic joke that with Irish man who was the first man to fly by putting geese feather on him self. These scientist found that feather might dissipate turbulence on a plane since we have found that birds don't experience any type of turbulence. Look at Peregrine Falcon which can reach 200 mph when diving at a prey 
Brad's comment,
November 30, 2014 9:55 AM
I could see this technology being more available to small aircraft like it says, but the ability to ensure no turbulence or even a claim to even reduce turbulence in large plains is unsure. Small planes are the ones who get bounced around the most, larger aircraft are still so large I am not sure if it would be cost effective. It seems like this technology is very early. When a new technology claims it is copyiung nature it must be better, or does it? I don't see how tons of metal and steel could ever really rect like a birds wing.
Zachary12's comment,
November 30, 2014 10:03 PM
I think you right brad in fact that lager planes would not experience to much affect but the small planes might, and for copying nature I would have to say that they should look at this idea for feathers for small amount of effort for overcoming turbulence. But another maybe even better way would be a integrating more natures concepts to the wings like carbon fiber wings that might give to increase pressures or changes in jets streams. I use carbon fiber as an example is be cause it has a high tensile strength giving less likely hood to snap but this could give the once ridged wings more flexibility in flight to compensate.
Scoop.it!
Researchers are developing a bio-inspired unmanned aircraft capable of soaring like birds, boosting energy efficiency and endurance. The research team is aiming to be the first in the world to demonstrate an autonomous unmanned aircraft that can mimic birds by using updrafts around buildings to stay airborne.
Scoop.it!
"Australian neuroscientists studying bees' flight have uncovered a surprisingly simple guidance strategy which could be used by drones, stealth fighters and even spacecraft. Experiments at the Australian National University revealed that bees land safely by ensuring that the surface they are approaching expands at a constant rate within their field of vision."
Scoop.it!
In its never-ending quest to develop more aerodynamic, more fuel-efficient aircraft, the aviation industry believes the ocean's oldest predator, the shark, could hold the key to cutting energy consumption.
|
Scoop.it!
"[...] a team of Danish researchers has designed a surprisingly “organic” model for the inside of an airplane wing by harnessing the immense computing power of 8,000 CPUs. In a letter published in Nature, Niels Aage and colleagues from the University of Denmark showed off an intricately curved and fractal-like airfoil design that’s strikingly similar to the interior of a bird’s wing and beak."
Scoop.it!
"The habits and anatomy of birds are being used by boffins at Airbus to develop quieter and more fuel efficient planes. The aviation giant, which makes and designs wings in Broughton, Flintshire, and Filton, Gloucestershire, employs Professor Norman Wood to unlock the mysteries of the natural world to help gain a commercial advantage.
Scoop.it!
"Although spring is finally here, the nightmare of winter flight delays is still fresh in many frequent flyers’ minds. However, these delays could soon become a thing of the past, and we have poisonous frogs to thank. Researchers from Arizona State University believe they have found a way for plane wings to de-ice themselves by secreting anti-freeze, much in the same way a poisonous dart frog’s skin secretes a toxin when threatened."
Scoop.it!
"[...] The wing tips of steppe eagles are an ideal shape to maximize lift with a minimal wingspan. The curvature at the end of the wing reduces drag. Engineers designing the A380 copied that design, resulting in fuel savings of up to 3%, depending on if it is a long or short distance flight."
Scoop.it!
"The mystery of why so many birds fly in a V formation may have been solved. Scientists from the Royal Veterinary College fitted data loggers to a flock of rare birds that were being trained to migrate by following a microlight. This revealed that the birds flew in the optimal position - gaining lift from the bird in front by remaining close to its wingtip. The study, published in the journal Nature, also showed that the birds timed their wing beats."
Miguel Prazeres's insight:
Flying commercial planes in formation much like birds do has been conceptualized as a way to save fuel by flying in formation: http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/08/taking-cues-from-birds-to-green-the-airline-industry/
Scoop.it!
"What do velvet, the skin of a shark, and advancements in aircraft aerodynamics have in common? The answer rests in a field of scientific study that involves examining what can be extracted, learned and duplicated from the natural world. Known as ‘biomimicry,” or biologically inspired engineering, this is the study and imitation of nature’s best ideas to help solve human challenges. A growing number of aeronautical innovations have been inspired by an array of natural structures, organs and materials – and these tried and tested patterns of the natural world will continue to be a powerful source of inspiration in the future."
Photo details: Bald Eagle , Morris Valley Road, Harrison Mills, British ColumbiaCopyright © 2008, Alan D. Wilson. http://www.naturespicsonline.com
|
