Journal of Bionic Engineering ›› 2023, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (4): 1646-1655.doi: 10.1007/s42235-022-00329-3
The Role of Vanes in the Damping of Bird Feathers
Kai Deng1; Hamed Rajabi2; Alexander Kovalev1; Clemens F. Schaber1; Zhendong Dai3; Stanislav N. Gorb1
- 1 Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Institute of Zoology, Kiel University, 24098 Kiel, Germany 2 School of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UK 3 Institute of Bioinspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210026, People’s Republic of China
The Role of Vanes in the Damping of Bird Feathers
Kai Deng1; Hamed Rajabi2; Alexander Kovalev1; Clemens F. Schaber1; Zhendong Dai3; Stanislav N. Gorb1
- 1 Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Institute of Zoology, Kiel University, 24098 Kiel, Germany 2 School of Engineering, London South Bank University, London SE1 0AA, UK 3 Institute of Bioinspired Structure and Surface Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210026, People’s Republic of China
摘要： Bird feathers sustain bending and vibrations during flight. Such unwanted vibrations could potentially cause noise and flight instabilities. Damping could alter the system response, resulting in improving quiet flight, stability, and controllability. Vanes of feathers are known to be indispensable for supporting the aerodynamic function of the wings. The relationship between the hierarchical structures of vanes and the mechanical properties of the feather has been previously studied. However, still little is known about their relationship with feathers’ damping properties. Here, the role of vanes in feathers’ damping properties was quantified. The vibrations of the feathers with vanes and the bare shaft without vanes after step deflections in the plane of the vanes and perpendicular to it were measured using high-speed video recording. The presence of several main natural vibration modes was observed in the feathers with vanes. After trimming vanes, more vibration modes were observed, the fundamental frequencies increased by 51–70%, and the damping ratio decreased by 38–60%. Therefore, we suggest that vanes largely increase feather damping properties. Damping mechanisms based on the morphology of feather vanes are discussed. The aerodynamic damping is connected with the planar vane surface, the structural damping is related to the interlocking between barbules and barbs, and the material damping is caused by the foamy medulla inside barbs.