Related papers: Energy-positive soaring using transient turbulent …
The dynamics of radiation pressure acceleration in the relativistic light sail regime are analysed by means of large scale, three-dimensional (3D) particle-in-cell simulations. Differently to other mechanisms, the 3D dynamics leads to…
We consider a rudimentary model for a heat engine, known as the Brownian gyrator, that consists of an overdamped system with two degrees of freedom in an anisotropic temperature field. Whereas the hallmark of the gyrator is a nonequilibrium…
Understanding compressible turbulence is critical for modeling atmospheric, astrophysical, and engineering flows. However, compressible turbulence poses a more significant challenge than incompressible turbulence. We present a novel…
Agile quadrotor flight relies on rapidly planning and accurately tracking time-optimal trajectories, a technology critical to their application in the wild. However, the computational burden of computing time-optimal trajectories based on…
Avian-informed drones feature morphing wing and tail surfaces, enhancing agility and adaptability in flight. Despite their large potential, realising their full capabilities remains challenging due to the lack of generalized control…
The increasing electricity demand and the need for clean and renewable energy resources to satisfy this demand in a cost-effective manner, imposes new challenges on researchers and developers to maximize the output of these renewable…
Wheeled-legged robots combine the efficiency of wheels with the versatility of legs, but face significant energy optimization challenges when navigating diverse environments. In this work, we present a hierarchical control framework that…
The energy output of photovoltaic (PV) power plants depends on the environment and thus fluctuates over time. As a result, PV power can cause instability in the power grid, in particular when increasingly used. Limiting the rate of change…
Controlling energy transfer through vibronic resonance is an interesting possibility. Exact treatment of non-adiabatic vibronic coupling is necessary to fully capture its role in driving energy transfer. However, exact treatment of…
Many swimmers, especially small to medium-sized animals, use intermittent locomotion that differs from continuous swimming of large species. This type of locomotion, called burst-and-coast, is often associated with an energetic advantage.…
The floating wind turbines sector has great energy potential. However, minimizing the movement of the structure under the combined effect of wind and waves while ensuring maximum power extraction over a wide operating range is one of the…
Flying animals resort to fast, large-degree-of-freedom motion of flapping wings, a key feature that distinguishes them from rotary or fixed-winged robotic fliers with limited motion of aerodynamic surfaces. However, flapping-wing…
This paper studies a class of enhanced diffusion processes in which random walkers perform L\'evy flights and apply it for global optimization. L\'evy flights offer controlled balance between exploitation and exploration. We develop four…
Estimating the direction of ambient fluid flow is key for many flying or swimming animals and robots, but can only be accomplished through indirect measurements and active control. Recent work with tethered flying insects indicates that…
We study experimentally the statistical properties and evolution of circulation in a turbulent flow passing through a smooth 2-D contraction. The turbulence is generated with an active grids to reach $Re_{\lambda} \simeq 220$ at the inlet…
The behavior of an isolated dilute granular gas near the threshold of its clustering instability is investigated by means of fluctuating hydrodynamics and the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. The theoretical predictions from the former…
Consider a flock of birds that fly interacting between them. The interactions are modelled through a hierarchical system in which each bird, at each time step, adjusts its own velocity according to his past velocity and a weighted mean of…
In this paper, we wish to investigate the dynamics of information transfer in evolutionary dynamics. We use information theoretic tools to track how much information an evolving population has obtained and managed to retain about different…
Shear flows are naturally expected to occur in astrophysical environments and potential sites of continuous non-thermal Fermi-type particle acceleration. Here we investigate the efficiency of expanding relativistic outflows to facilitate…
Search processes in the natural world are often punctuated by home returns that reset the position of foraging animals, birds, and insects. Many theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies have now demonstrated that this strategy can…