Technology and nature: the meeting between the plane and the owl

Take a cue from the silent flight of the barbagianni to create quieter aircraft.

This is a new technological challenge inspired by nature.

Already the good old Leonardo da Vinci used to draw inspiration by turning his gaze towards nature. He was extremely fascinated, his purpose was certainly not to dominate it but rather to understand it.

As Einstein often related to natural elements, he often remembered: “Everything you can imagine nature has already created.”

Now, imagine you’re a mouse, one of those little ones who jump here and into the woods at night to look for something to nibble on, you’d probably think, word plus minus: “But why can’t those cursed, crushed-faced feathers make more noise when they fly? Instead you find them in front of them, so suddenly, as if they were equipped with teleportation!”

Of course, if those predators made the sound of a plane, it would certainly be easy to escape. But unfortunately, for the mouse I mean, it’s not. Evolution has given nocturnal birds of prey not only a perfect view and superior hearing, but also the particular characteristic of silent flight.

And it is precisely on this last aspect that the studies of the engineer Justin Jaworski, of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, are based.

The purpose of his research is certainly not to lend a hand to the mouse by increasing the noise of the Barbarians, but to use the characteristics of the raptor to create planes and wind turbines quieter.

According to the evidence made, it seems that the flight noise of some nocturnal birds of prey is imperceptible to the human ear, at least until the bird is between one and two meters away. According to the footage, the noise remains almost unchanged even when the wings flapping.

Tests have already been done through physical experiments and theoretical models inspired by the owl’s feathers, and the result has resulted in a 10 decibel noise reduction in wind turbine noise, without affecting aerodynamics.

As far as flying is concerned, however, things are a little more complex. It seems that to this day it is still a little difficult to build large, movable, feathered wings capable of supporting an aircraft.

Searches, however, do not stop, and soon our world will be quieter!

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