Determination of spatial fidelity required to accurately mimic the flight dynamics of a bat

Role of wing inertia in maneuvering bat flights

The role of aerodynamics and wing inertia on the motion dynamics for the maneuvering flight of two bats from two species of roundleaf bats,H. armigerandH. prattiare investigated. Comparative studies among a straight flight, two ascending sweeping right turns, and a U-turn reveal that inertial forces play an essential and sometimes crucial role in the maneuvers. The translational trajectory of the bat is mostly driven by aerodynamic forces generated by the wings along the flight path, whereas inertial forces for the most part drive the intra-cycle fluctuations. However, inertial forces are found to contribute non-trivially to the ascending motion of theH. armigerduring the sweeping turn and the U-turn. The roll maneuver is found to be primarily driven by aerodynamic asymmetries during flight, whereas the yaw maneuver is primarily driven by imbalances in wing inertial moments. Inertial moments resulting from Coriolis and centrifugal forces are found to play an important role in accurate yaw prediction. The moment due to Coriolis force plays a very prominent role in predicting the correct yaw angle during the extreme 180° U-turn.

Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag

Bat wing skin is exceptionally compliant and cambers significantly during flight. Plagiopatagiales proprii, arrays of small muscles embedded in the armwing membrane, are activated during flight and are hypothesized to modulate membrane tension. We examined the function of these muscles using Jamaican fruit bats, Artibeus jamaicensis. When these muscles were paralyzed using botulinum toxin, the bats preferred flight speed decreased and they were unable to fly at very low speeds. Paralysis of the plagiopatagiales also resulted in increased armwing camber consistent with a hypothesized role of modulating aeroelastic interactions. Other compensatory kinematics included increased downstroke angle and increased wingbeat amplitude. These results are consistent with the bats experiencing increased drag and flight power costs associated with the loss of wing-membrane control. Our results indicate that A. jamaicensis likely always employ their wing membrane muscles during sustained flight to control camber and to enhance flight efficiency over a wide flight envelope.

Highlighted Article: Temporary paralysis of wing-skin-embedded muscles in bats significantly increases wing-membrane camber, reduces preferred flight speed and prevents very slow flight, highlighting their role in control, efficiency and expanding the flight envelope.

Turning-ascending flight of a Hipposideros pratti bat

Bats exhibit a high degree of agility and provide an excellent model system for bioinspired flight. The current study investigates an ascending right turn of a Hipposideros pratti bat and elucidates on the kinematic features and aerodynamic mechanisms used to effectuate the manoeuvre. The wing kinematics captured by a three-dimensional motion capture system is used as the boundary condition for the aerodynamic simulations featuring immersed boundary method. Results indicate that the bat uses roll and yaw rotations of the body to different extents synergistically to generate the centripetal force to initiate and sustain the turn. The turning moments are generated by drawing the wing inside the turn closer to the body, by introducing phase lags in force generation between the wings and redirecting force production to the outer part of the wing outside of the turn. Deceleration in flight speed, an increase in flapping frequency, shortening of the upstroke and thrust generation at the end of the upstroke were observed during the ascending manoeuvre. The bat consumes about 0.67 W power to execute the turning-ascending manoeuvre, which is approximately two times the power consumed by similar bats during level flight. Upon comparison with a similar manoeuvre by a Hipposideros armiger bat (Windes et al. 2020 Bioinspir. Biomim. 16, abb78d. (doi:10.1088/1748-3190/abb78d)), some commonalities, as well as differences, were observed in the detailed wing kinematics and aerodynamics.

Analysis of a 180-degree U-turn maneuver executed by a hipposiderid bat

Bats possess wings comprised of a flexible membrane and a jointed skeletal structure allowing them to execute complex flight maneuvers such as rapid tight turns. The extent of a bat's tight turning capability can be explored by analyzing a 180-degree U-turn. Prior studies have investigated more subtle flight maneuvers, but the kinematic and aerodynamic mechanisms of a U-turn have not been characterized. In this work, we use 3D optical motion capture and aerodynamic simulations to investigate a U-turn maneuver executed by a great roundleaf bat (Hipposideros armiger: mass = 55 g, span = 51 cm). The bat was observed to decrease its flight velocity and gain approximately 20 cm of altitude entering the U-turn. By lowering its velocity from 2.0 m/s to 0.5 m/s, the centripetal force requirement to execute a tight turn was substantially reduced. Centripetal force was generated by tilting the lift force vector laterally through banking. During the initiation of the U-turn, the bank angle increased from 20 degrees to 40 degrees. During the initiation and persisting throughout the U-turn, the flap amplitude of the right wing (inside of the turn) increased relative to the left wing. In addition, the right wing moved more laterally closer to the centerline of the body during the end of the downstroke and the beginning of the upstroke compared to the left wing. Reorientation of the body into the turn happened prior to a change in the flight path of the bat. Once the bat entered the U-turn and the bank angle increased, the change in flight path of the bat began to change rapidly as the bat negotiated the apex of the turn. During this phase of the turn, the minimum radius of curvature of the bat was 5.5 cm. During the egress of the turn, the bat accelerated and expended stored potential energy by descending. The cycle averaged total power expenditure by the bat during the six wingbeat cycle U-turn maneuver was 0.51 W which was approximately 40% above the power expenditure calculated for a nominally straight flight by the same bat. Future work on the topic of bat maneuverability may investigate a broader array of maneuvering flights characterizing the commonalities and differences across flights. In addition, the interplay between aerodynamic moments and inertial moments are of interest in order to more robustly characterize maneuvering mechanisms.