afpt (version 1.1.0.4)

computeAvailablePower: Compute available power

Description

Estimation of maximum available power available from the muscles.

Usage

computeAvailablePower(bird, maxPowerAero, ...)

Value

numeric value of mechanical power

Arguments

bird

bird description object (see Bird)

maxPowerAero

maximum continuous power

...

optional arguments (none yet)

Author

Marco Klein Heerenbrink

Details

Available power is determined as a muscle property. It is assumed that part of the muscles tissue is chemically active (mitochondria), providing the required ATP energy to the mechanically active tissue (myofibrils). The fraction of mitochondria determines the maximum sustainable power output from the muscles. With a higher fraction of myofibrils, the muscles can produce more power, but only in a short burst, until all ATP runs out.

If only a Bird object is provided, the function will assume that maximum power equals maximum continuous power (maxPowerAero). Otherwise, it will compute the burst maximum power.

References

Pennycuick, C. J. & Rezende, M. A. (1984) The specific power output of aerobic muscle, related to the power density of mitochondria. J. Exp. Biol., 108, 377–392.

Pennycuick, C. J. (2008). Modelling the flying bird. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier.

See Also

Bird

Examples

## Define a bird:
myBird = Bird(
  massTotal = 0.215, #  (kg) total body mass
  wingSpan = 0.67, #  (m) maximum wing span
  wingArea = 0.0652, #  (m2) maximum wing area
  type = "passerine"
)

## for maximum continuous power
power.max <- computeAvailablePower(myBird)
print(power.max)
#   [1] 5.233528

## for specified maximum continuous power:
power.max.continuous <- 0.8*power.max
power.max.burst <- computeAvailablePower(myBird,power.max.continuous)
print(power.max.burst)
#   [1] 5.466625