A9 Collision

Title

A9 models the physics of the impact of a bird in flight against a solid surface: glass windows, wind towers, electrical cables, aircraft or urban structures. It is the most relevant model for applied conservationhundreds of millions of annual deaths due to collisions with windows are estimated in North America aloneand its physical basis is linear impulse-momentum analysis. The total momentum transferred to the bird depends on its mass and flight speed; Peak force and tissue damage further depend on the contact duration, which varies drastically between surfaces (glass: very short t very high peak force; vegetation: long t distributed force). The model calculates the mechanical stress on the skull and skeleton, the energy dissipated in tissue (which determines the actual damage), and the probability of mortality as a function of the kinetic energy and mass of the bird. It allows evaluating the differential risk by species (mass, usual flight speed) and by type of structure.

ID:4219