Understanding flapping flight energetics is a fundamental challenge in both biology and engineering. In this thesis a new flight energetics model for predicting flapping wing energetics and corresponding wing kinematic parameters is presented. This model approximates the total power requirements for forward flight and predicts the associated power-optimal flapping amplitude, flapping frequency and wake circulation distribution. At each flight velocity and ascent angle the model imposes a force equilibrium condition (total thrust equals total drag, lift equals weight) by using an optimal circulation, wake only method for aerodynamics analysis. The distributed wake circulation result is a more rigorous viscous and induced drag approximation than prior energetics models. The proposed model implementation has three components: (1) a computationally intensive offline component, (2) a moderately computationally intensive intermediate processing and model assembly component, and (3) a rapid evaluation online component. The offline and intermediate computer programs are generic and apply to all animals. The only component of the energetics model that requires specific animal characteristics is the online computer program. The results of this new energetics model show good agreement with results from experiments and with predictions made by traditional momentum disk energetics computations.
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