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Aerodynamic forces acting on an albatross flying above sea-waves

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Abstract

Numerical investigation on the dynamic mechanism has been made for an albatross to fly effectively near sea surface. Emphasizing on the effect of the sea wave, the albatross is simplified as a two-dimensional airfoil and the panel method based on the potential flow theory is employed to calculate the wave effect on the aerodynamic forces. The numerical results have been presented for the states of flying at different constant speeds with constant heights above sea level, and flying at different constant speeds with the combined oscillations of pitching and free heaving. It is shown that the albatross flight efficiency depends on not only the speed and height of flight but also the wave amplitude and the wavelength. The albatross benefits by wave effect to get thrust, so as to reduce the resistance in the circumstances of rough sea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Shipbuilding Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, 150001, Harbin, P. R. China

    Sheng Qi-hu (Lecturer, Doctor), Wu De-ming & Zhang Liang

Authors
  1. Sheng Qi-hu
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  2. Wu De-ming
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  3. Zhang Liang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheng Qi-hu.

Additional information

Communicated by Zhou Heng

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50279004) and the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (No. 2002AA516010).

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Qi-hu, S., De-ming, W. & Liang, Z. Aerodynamic forces acting on an albatross flying above sea-waves. Appl Math Mech 26, 1222–1229 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02507733

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02507733

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2000 Mathematics Subject Classification

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