Taking inspiration from bird feathers, Princeton engineers have found that adding rows of flaps to a remote-controlled aircraft’s wings improves

School of Engineering & Applied Science

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2024-11-01 18:00:03

Taking inspiration from bird feathers, Princeton engineers have found that adding rows of flaps to a remote-controlled aircraft’s wings improves flight performance and helps prevent stalling, a condition that can jeopardize a plane’s ability to stay aloft. 

“These flaps can both help the plane avoid stall and make it easier to regain control when stall does occur,” said Aimy Wissa, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and principal investigator of the study, published Oct. 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The flaps mimic a group of feathers, called covert feathers, that deploy when birds perform certain aerial maneuvers, such as landing or flying in a gust. Biologists have observed when and how these feathers deploy, but no studies have quantified the aerodynamic role of covert feathers during bird flight. Engineering studies have investigated covert-inspired flaps for improving engineered wing performance, but have mostly neglected that birds have multiple rows of covert feathers. The Princeton team has advanced the technology by demonstrating how sets of flaps work together and exploring the complex physics that governs the interaction.

Girguis Sedky, postdoctoral researcher and the paper’s lead author, called the technique “an easy and cost-effective way to drastically improve flight performance without additional power requirements.”

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