Abstract
The connection between wing and body shape and the elicited aerodynamic forces can be treated in detail by theory, but aerodynamic theory is not an exact science. It contains approximations, simplifications, and empirical coefficients, and the picture is complicated for a flapping wing, in which angles, velocities, and shape change instantaneously. Therefore, animal flight is complicated, but can be understood by the application of theories of airplane (fixed) wings and airscrews or propellers (blade-element, momentum jet and vortex theories).
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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Norberg, U.M. (1990). Basic Aerodynamics. In: Vertebrate Flight. Zoophysiology, vol 27. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83848-4_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83848-4_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-83850-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-83848-4
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