National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aero-Engine Aero-Thermodynamics, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2020 Jul 15;223(Pt 14):jeb218552. doi: 10.1242/jeb.218552.
Maximum whole-body force production can influence behavioral outcomes for volant taxa, and may also be relevant to aerodynamic optimization in microair vehicles. Here, we describe a new method for measuring maximum force production in free-flying animals, and present associated data for the wandering glider dragonfly. Flight trajectories were repeatedly acquired from pull-up responses by insects dropped in mid-air with submaximal loads attached beneath the center of body mass. Forces were estimated from calculations of the maximum time-averaged acceleration through time, and multiple estimates were obtained per individual so as to statistically facilitate approximation of maximum capacity through use of the Weibull distribution. On a group level, wandering glider dragonflies were here estimated to be capable of producing total aerodynamic force equal to ∼4.3 times their own body weight, a value which significantly exceeds earlier estimates made for load-lifting dragonflies, and also for other volant taxa in sustained vertical load-lifting experiments. Maximum force production varied isometrically with body mass. Falling and recovery flight with submaximal load represents a new context for evaluating limits to force production by flying animals.
最大全身力的产生可以影响飞行类动物的行为结果，并且在微型飞行器的空气动力学优化方面也可能相关。在这里，我们描述了一种测量自由飞行动物最大力产生的新方法，并提供了 wandering glider dragonfly（ wandering 滑翔蜻蜓）的相关数据。通过在昆虫中心质量下方附着的亚最大负载从昆虫的拉起反应中反复获取飞行轨迹。通过计算随时间的最大时间平均加速度来估计力，并且对每个个体进行多次估计，以便通过使用 Weibull 分布来统计地促进对最大容量的近似。在群体水平上，wandering glider dragonfly（ wandering 滑翔蜻蜓）被估计能够产生等于其自身体重约 4.3 倍的总空气动力，这一数值明显超过了之前对负重蜻蜓以及其他在持续垂直负重实验中飞行的类群的估计。最大力的产生与体重成等比关系。在带有亚最大负载的下落和恢复飞行中，代表了评估飞行动物力产生极限的新背景。
