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Effects of Morphological Integrity of Secondary Feather on Their Drag Reduction in Pigeons

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Abstract

Flight feathers of birds interact with the air flow during flight. How the observed low drag and high lift values at wind speeds from 9.0 to 19.8 m/s can be achieved due to the feather aerodynamics remains unknown. In the present paper, we tested and compared morphological changes, drag reduction and flow visualization results of intact, damaged, and artificial feathers at different wind speeds in a wind tunnel. Through the analysis of the drag force and resultant force angle, we proved that the integrity of feathers, whose barbs are usually closely interconnected, played an important role in the drag, which potentially triggers excellent drag reduction performance. The wind tunnel tests indicated that intact secondary feathers had a surprisingly high maximum drag reduction property at v = 9 m/s compared with the feathers, where the integrity of barbs was damaged. The hook cascades facilitated elasticity under pressure and suitable permeability in an intact feather, when the hooks were interlocked. It was indicated that the suitable permeability of intact feathers would prevent flow separation and reduce drag force at low wind speed; at high wind speed, elasticity under pressure and suitable permeability in an intact feather would facilitate strong squeezing effect, helping feathers withstand larger aerodynamic forces to which they might be subjected during flight. It was revealed that the intact secondary feather is a compromise between strong lift generation and drag reduction, which has a great significance for the bird’s flight.

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Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum für Wissenschaftsförderung to SNG and ZDD (Grant No. GZ1154); and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51875281, 51861135306). This study was carried out in accordance with the Guide for Laboratory Animal Management Ordinance of China. The experimental procedures were approved by the Jiangsu Association for Animal Science (Jiangsu, China). The authors thank Guodong Qin and Xiyuan Zhang for their help with the experimental setup. We acknowledge the advice of the editor and reviewers who helped in improving the early version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Bio-Inspired Structure and Surface Engineering, College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Yudao Street, Nanjing, 210016, China

    Qian Li, Huan Shen, Qingfei Han, Aihong Ji & Zhendong Dai

  2. Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Kiel University, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Stanislav N. Gorb

Authors
  1. Qian Li
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  2. Huan Shen
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  3. Qingfei Han
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  4. Aihong Ji
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  6. Stanislav N. Gorb
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The experimental setup was designed by QL, HS and QH. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by QL and HS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by QL. AJ, ZD and SNG contributed to data interpretation and critically revised the manuscript. All authors approve the final version of the manuscript for publication and agree to be held accountable for the work performed therein.

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Correspondence to Aihong Ji.

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Li, Q., Shen, H., Han, Q. et al. Effects of Morphological Integrity of Secondary Feather on Their Drag Reduction in Pigeons. J Bionic Eng 19, 1422–1438 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00203-2

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