Zackary Tileston

Analysis of Aerodynamics in Northern Flying Squirrel Patagium

I wrote this paper for my MATH 481 course. This was the last course I needed to complete my math minor. Throughout the course, I worked on this research paper. I chose to write about flying squirrels and their patagium (wings). Specifically, I investigated the relationship between the angle of attack in their descent and air speed. I tested this relationship with fluid dynamic simulations within ANSYS software as well as a real-world simulation using a flow visualization tank. While I never got the chance to officially publish this paper, I am very happy with the work I did in this course. It was a great project to combine my existing 3D printing skills while simultaneously developing a new one.