An award is made to Brown University to build a new animal flight and aeromechanics wind tunnel. In addition to facilitating conventional aerodynamic experiments, the wind tunnel will be configured for testing of birds, bats, and other flying and gliding animals and will enable new insights into animal flight and bio-inspired flight robotics. The wind tunnel facility will be made available to researchers interested in animal flight, fluid mechanics and related topics throughout and outside the US. Researchers from diverse communities including major research universities, undergraduate teaching colleges, and private and public institutions, will be encouraged to participate in research programs using the new wind tunnel and its associated instrumentation. Postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students will receive training that uses the wind tunnel facility. The facility will be used to host multi-university workshops and symposia on biological aerodynamics and control, and in the use of advanced measurement diagnostics.
Scientists at Brown are leaders in the study of biological flight and have pioneered many experiments in this field. With the development of advanced diagnostics - high-speed videography, particle image velocimetry, animal-mounted data logging and transmission, etc. - animal flight research has become an area of intense research among biologists, bio-inspired roboticists, and other scientists and engineers. These groups use advanced diagnostic tools to better understand the kinematics, mechanics and dynamics of biological flight and diverse aspects of flight physiology; the results of these studies shed light on the ecology and evolution of life on the wing, and inspire novel engineering designs. The new wind tunnel will permit animal flight scientists throughout and beyond the US to work with a diversity of animal subjects and to employ sophisticated experimental techniques in the study of biomechanics, animal flight and bio-inspired robotics, and will facilitate ongoing and new collaborations among students and faculty. It will enable advanced measurement of kinematics and dynamics of animal fight, muscle function, echolocation, sensing and control during flight. In addition to biological testing, the wind tunnel will be used by a broad and diverse community of researchers in engineering fluid mechanics and aerodynamics research, allowing for transformative experiments in fundamental fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, fluid-structure interactions and energy systems.
