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On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories

Dynamic soaring is a flight technique used by albatrosses and other birds to cover large distances without the expenditure of energy, which is extracted from the available wind conditions, as brightly perceived five centuries ago by Leonardo da Vinci. Closed dynamic soaring trajectories use spatial...

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Autores principales: Alexandre, David, Marino, Luca, Marta, André, Graziani, Giorgio, Piva, Renzo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7053723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32126133
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229746
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author Alexandre, David
Marino, Luca
Marta, André
Graziani, Giorgio
Piva, Renzo
author_facet Alexandre, David
Marino, Luca
Marta, André
Graziani, Giorgio
Piva, Renzo
author_sort Alexandre, David
collection PubMed
description Dynamic soaring is a flight technique used by albatrosses and other birds to cover large distances without the expenditure of energy, which is extracted from the available wind conditions, as brightly perceived five centuries ago by Leonardo da Vinci. Closed dynamic soaring trajectories use spatial variations of wind speed to travel, in principle, indefinitely over a prescribed area. The application of the concept of closed dynamic soaring trajectories to aerial vehicles, such as UAVs, may provide a solution to improve the endurance in certain missions. The main limitation of dynamic soaring is its dependence on the wind characteristics. More than one century ago, Lord Rayleigh proposed a very simple model, based on the repeated crossing of a step wind profile, presently known as Rayleigh cycle, that provides a clear explanation of the physical phenomenon. The present paper studies the feasibility of closed, single-loop, energy-neutral trajectories for a broad set of wind and vehicle conditions. Through the use of trajectory optimization methods, it was possible to see how the shape of the wind profile, the initial flight conditions and the vehicle constraints influence the required wind strength to perform dynamic soaring trajectories and consequently their feasibility. It was possible to conclude that there are optimal values for the initial airspeed and initial height of the vehicle, that minimize the required wind strength. In addition, it was seen how the structural and aerodynamic constraints of the vehicle affect dynamic soaring at high and low airspeeds respectively. Finally, some new trajectories that can be performed in conditions of excess wind are proposed. The purpose is to maximize the time spent aloft and the path length while maintaining the concept of single-loop, energy-neutral trajectories, making them especially useful for aerial vehicles surveillance applications.
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spelling pubmed-70537232020-03-12 On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories Alexandre, David Marino, Luca Marta, André Graziani, Giorgio Piva, Renzo PLoS One Research Article Dynamic soaring is a flight technique used by albatrosses and other birds to cover large distances without the expenditure of energy, which is extracted from the available wind conditions, as brightly perceived five centuries ago by Leonardo da Vinci. Closed dynamic soaring trajectories use spatial variations of wind speed to travel, in principle, indefinitely over a prescribed area. The application of the concept of closed dynamic soaring trajectories to aerial vehicles, such as UAVs, may provide a solution to improve the endurance in certain missions. The main limitation of dynamic soaring is its dependence on the wind characteristics. More than one century ago, Lord Rayleigh proposed a very simple model, based on the repeated crossing of a step wind profile, presently known as Rayleigh cycle, that provides a clear explanation of the physical phenomenon. The present paper studies the feasibility of closed, single-loop, energy-neutral trajectories for a broad set of wind and vehicle conditions. Through the use of trajectory optimization methods, it was possible to see how the shape of the wind profile, the initial flight conditions and the vehicle constraints influence the required wind strength to perform dynamic soaring trajectories and consequently their feasibility. It was possible to conclude that there are optimal values for the initial airspeed and initial height of the vehicle, that minimize the required wind strength. In addition, it was seen how the structural and aerodynamic constraints of the vehicle affect dynamic soaring at high and low airspeeds respectively. Finally, some new trajectories that can be performed in conditions of excess wind are proposed. The purpose is to maximize the time spent aloft and the path length while maintaining the concept of single-loop, energy-neutral trajectories, making them especially useful for aerial vehicles surveillance applications. Public Library of Science 2020-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7053723/ /pubmed/32126133 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229746 Text en © 2020 Alexandre et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Alexandre, David
Marino, Luca
Marta, André
Graziani, Giorgio
Piva, Renzo
On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title_full On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title_fullStr On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title_full_unstemmed On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title_short On the feasibility of the Rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
title_sort on the feasibility of the rayleigh cycle for dynamic soaring trajectories
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7053723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32126133
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229746
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