Design and evolution in flying devices - both large & small

Geoffrey Spedding, Ph.D.  
Professor & Chair
Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
University of Southern California

It  could  be  argued  that  success  in  human-engineered  flight  began  exactly  as  designs  departed  from  facsimiles  of  nature,  and  in  many  respects,  modern  aircraft  bear  little  resemblance  to  natural  flyers.  As  small  unmanned  air  vehicles  become  more  practicable  to  design  and  operate,  our  thoughts  may  turn  again to whether they should share some features with the bioflyers, whose at-least-moderate degree of efficiency is surely assured by the long evolutionary time-scales... The question then arises as to whether an optimal configuration exists, and then as to whether it may be reachable. Two sets of research threads will be outlined, one involving scales where birds, bats and micro-air vehicles intersect in design space, and  one  where  we  will  claim  that  most  commercial  transports  are  operating  far  from  likely  superior  solutions. Tracks for future research on these points also overlap in interesting ways.

Professor Geoffrey Spedding received his PhD in Zoology at Bristol University, England, working on the aerodynamics  of  bird  flight.  Deciding  that  the  
applied  mechanics  and  aerodynamics  were  the  most  satisfying   components   of   that   work,   he   moved   to   the   Mechanical   and   Aerospace   Engineering Departments at USC to work on mechanical models of insect wings. He found himself surrounded by all kinds  of  interesting  projects  in  geophysical  fluid  dynamics  and  started  work  in  this  field.  Since  then,  he  has  worked  on  the  evolution  of  turbulence  in  stratified  oceans  and  atmospheres,  and  on  various  small-scale aerodynamics problems. In 2009 he became Chair of the AME Department at USC, in 2010 he was elected an APS Fellow, and in 2013 was a visiting Chaire Joliot at ESPCI, in Paris.