COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Structure and Mechanics of the Bat Wing Membrane

合作研究：蝙蝠翼膜的结构和力学

• 批准号: 1145549
• 负责人: Sharon Swartz
• 金额: $ 40.43万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1145549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Structure; Mechanics; Bat

The wings of all flying animals are composed in part of an outer surface -- the skin, feathers, and/or cuticle -- but this key component of wing structure is much less well studied than the internal skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems. Because skin can make up the majority of the wing surface, understanding the mechanical nature of skin in flying animals is critically important to understanding both how animals fly, and the evolutionary origins and diversification of animal flight. One way in which bats differ from all other flying animals and from the flying vehicles that humans build is that their wings deform and stretch tremendously during flight. This research project will focus on the unique structure and function of bat skin, and how it contributes to the flight capacity of bats. This project proposes to understand how the skin of the wing helps to control the dynamic changes in 3D wing shape that are integral to bat flight performance. To achieve this goal, this collaborative project will integrate biology and engineering research to gain an in-depth understanding of the nature of bat wing skin, a remarkable and complex biological material. First, high-speed videography of natural flight in bats will be used to document how wing skin stretches and deforms during normal wing movements. Second, a comparative analysis of the diversity of structure of connective tissues and muscles underlying wing skin will be undertaken in a group of 87 of the more than 1200 living bat species, selected to represent bat diversity and evolutionary relationships. Third, unique mechanical tests of wing skin will be made by applying forces in a manner that mimics, for the first time, what skin experiences during flight. Using a special technique that employs polarized light, it will be possible to quantify microscopic deformations over entire skin samples for the first time. This new method will make it possible to gain fundamental insights into wing skin as a material and into wings as airfoils. Finally, data from all of these studies will be incorporated into engineering models of structure-property relationships for bat skin. These models will not only provide deeper insights into the mechanics of the skin, but will also make predictions about skin function and dynamics that go beyond what can be observed under laboratory test conditions.Engineering sciences increasingly look to the biological world for design ideas and studies of bat wing architecture and materials can uncover a menu of distinctive traits that can inspire novel aerospace materials, airfoil designs, and other cutting-edge technologies. In addition, theory and modeling tools developed here for highly deforming wing skin will be applicable to tissue mechanics in a variety of biological and biomedical applications. Public fascination with bats and the beauty of bat form and motion provide natural starting points for communication; the principal investigators and their students will conduct outreach at local public schools and museums, create web-based content for many audiences, and participate in film and television programming.The investigators will make special efforts to identify, recruit, and retain undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups, and to involve them as team members at every level. A biology component will be added to the NSF-GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math & Science) program in Kingston, Jamaica, which will incorporate animal flight and natural history of Jamaica. This enhancement will broaden the range of science in the program, offer outreach training to graduate students, and give girls hands-on experience of science in their own environment.

所有飞行动物的翅膀都在外表面的一部分（皮肤，羽毛和/或表皮）组成，但是翼结构的关键组成部分比内部骨骼，肌肉和神经系统的研究要多得多。 因为皮肤可以构成机翼表面的大部分，所以了解飞行动物皮肤的机械性质对于了解动物的飞行方式以及动物飞行的进化起源和多样化至关重要。蝙蝠与所有​​其他飞行动物以及人类建造的飞行车辆不同的一种方式是，它们的翅膀在飞行过程中畸形和伸展。该研究项目将着重于蝙蝠皮肤的独特结构和功能，以及它如何促进蝙蝠的飞行能力。 该项目建议了解机翼的皮肤如何有助于控制3D机翼形状的动态变化，而3D机翼形状是击球飞行性能不可或缺的。为了实现这一目标，这个协作项目将整合生物学和工程研究，以深入了解蝙蝠翼皮肤的性质，蝙蝠翼皮肤是一种了不起而复杂的生物学材料。 首先，蝙蝠中自然飞行的高速摄影将用于记录机翼皮肤在正常机翼运动中的伸展和变形。其次，将在1200多种活体物种中的87个组中对结缔组织和肌肉结构的结构多样性进行比较分析，以代表蝙蝠的多样性和进化关系。第三，翼皮肤的独特机械测试将通过以一种模仿飞行过程中的皮肤体验的方式应用力来进行。使用采用偏振光的特殊技术，可以首次对整个皮肤样品进行微观变形。这种新方法将使作为材料作为材料的机翼皮肤和机翼作为机翼的翅膀获得基本见解。最后，所有这些研究的数据都将纳入蝙蝠皮肤的结构 - 特质关系的工程模型中。 这些模型不仅将对皮肤的机制提供更深入的见解，而且还将对皮肤功能和动态进行预测，这超出了在实验室测试条件下可以观察到的东西。工程科学越来越多地寻找生物学世界的设计思想和蝙蝠翼建筑和材料研究的生物学世界，可以启发出一种独特的特征，这些菜单可以激发新型航空空间材料，使材料和其他构造技术，以及其他材料。此外，这里开发的用于高度变形的机翼皮肤的理论和建模工具将适用于多种生物学和生物医学应用中的组织力学。公众对蝙蝠的迷恋以及蝙蝠形式和运动的美丽为交流提供了自然的起点；主要的调查人员及其学生将在当地的公立学校和博物馆进行宣传，为许多受众创建基于网络的内容，并参加电影和电视节目。牙买加金斯敦的NSF-GEMS（工程，数学与科学女子）计划将添加生物学组成部分，该计划将结合牙买加的动物飞行和自然历史。 这种增强将扩大该计划的科学范围，为研究生提供外展培训，并在自己的环境中为女孩动手体验。