We investigated the relationship between wing element proportions and flight mode in a dataset of living avian species to provide a framework for making basic estimates of the range of flight styles evolved by Mesozoic birds. Our results show that feather length (f(prim)) and total arm length (ta) (sum of the humerus, ulna and manus length) ratios differ significantly between four flight style ...

A preliminary investigation of a wing with a conformal camber is discussed. The wing uses an adaptive actuator mounted internally to alter the shape of the suction surface which results in a change in the effective camber by increasing the maximum thickness and moving the location of maximum thickness aft. Since the actuator motion can be altered continuously, this allows the wing shape to be e...

The Drosophila wing has been used as a model in studies of morphogenesis and evolution; the use of such models can contribute to our understanding of mechanisms that promote morphological divergence among populations and species. We mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting wing size and shape traits using highly inbred introgression lines between D. simulans and D. sechellia, two sibling ...

Morphing aircraft are a focus today due to their ability to combine multiple mission flexibility with a single vehicle. The Hyper-Elliptical Cambered Span (HECS) wing is one such wing being developed as a testbed for morphing technologies, due to its ability to vary the spanwise curvature in order to alter a craft’s lift-to-drag performance. Through analysis of the aft-swept wing geometry and r...

Morphological traits can be highly variable over time in a particular geographical area. Different selective pressures shape those traits, which is crucial in evolutionary biology. Among these traits, insect wing morphometry has already been widely used to describe phenotypic variability at the inter-specific level. On the contrary, fewer studies have focused on intra-specific wing morphometric...

A combined procedure for the aerodynamic and structural optimization of a High-Speed Civil Transport wing is presented. Primary goal of the procedure is the determination of the jig shape of the wing necessary so that it deforms into its optimum shape in cruise flight. The wing twist and camber distribution is optimized for the cruise condition using WINGDES, a code based on a linearized potent...

This paper discusses issues and practical requirements for an adaptive wing in relation to currently available technology. Adaptive wings offer many benefits, but a viable wing will require research into several areas, including selection of initial and perturbed airfoil shapes, steady and unsteady aerodynamic analysis of adaptive airfoils, and methods for real-time shape control of an adaptive...

The successful distribution of A. mellifera is due to their ability to adjust to seasonal variations, considerable control over their internal physical environment and exploration of different resources. However, their populations have experienced different forms and levels of environmental pressure. This research aimed to verify the phenotypic plasticity in both size and shape of wings in A. m...

Insect wings are deformable structures that change shape passively and dynamically owing to inertial and aerodynamic forces during flight. It is still unclear how the three-dimensional and passive change of wing kinematics owing to inherent wing flexibility contributes to unsteady aerodynamics and energetics in insect flapping flight. Here, we perform a systematic fluid-structure interaction ba...

Exogenous environmental changes are known to affect the intrinsic characteristics of biological organizms. For instance, the synthesis rate of the morphogen decapentaplegic (Dpp) in a Drosophila wing imaginal disc has been found to double with an increase of 5.9°C in ambient temprerature. If not compensated, such a change would alter the signaling Dpp gradient significantly and thereby the deve...