孔子鸟是早期鸟类的一重要类群，对揭示鸟类飞行起源和演化具有重要的指示作用。但是主要囿于其化石本身保存较少信息，也没有外形与之相似的现生鸟类作对比，迄今有关孔子鸟飞行能力的结论更多源于简单定性的推测。作为当今定量化模拟和分析的重要工具，计算流体力学在解决许多普遍存在于古生物结构-功能难题方面发展良好，具备其它手段无可比拟的优势。本课题拟以计算流体力学为主要工具，构建孔子鸟滑翔模型，从形态结构相对简单的后肢和尾部入手，1）模拟和分析尾羽的气动性能及对飞行的调控作用； 2）分析后肢的气动性能及其姿态调整可能引起的飞行布局变化； 3）揭示前肢、后肢和尾巴的功能划分和配置关系、以及孔子鸟的飞行能力； 4）并在此基础上深入探究孔子鸟在飞行演化中的位置，为飞行起源和早期演化研究提供定量化的证据。另外，也期望把该交叉、探索性工作推广到其它类似的研究中，进而探索出一条行之有效、定量化的功能-形态学研究方法。

Confuciusornithids is a very important early bird group in revealing the avian flight origin and the early evolution of flight. For a long period, however, the judgements of the flight capabilities of confuciusornithids are mainly come from some simple or qualitative speculation and analogism, rather than others, restricted by the poor information from the fossil entities, as well as the less analogues in living birds. As a very important and popular tool in quantitative simulation and analysis, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has its incomparable advantages over others, and developed very well in recent years in solving some morphological-functional problems presented generally in paleontological researches. Applying the CFD method, and considering the morphological features of hindlimbs seem simpler than those of the forelimbs, this project try to construct the gliding models of confuciusornithids first, and then (1) conducts the simulations and analyses to the elongated central tail feathers and their roles in flight manipulating, (2) analyses the aerodynamic performance of the hindlimbs and their aerodynamic configuration changes caused by the posture adjustment of birds, (3) estimate the functions of the forelimbs, the hindlimbs and the tail, and their relationships, to get a comprehensive judgement for the flight capability of confuciusornithids, and then (4) estimate the role of confuciusornithids involved in the early evolution of avian flight, and provide the quantitative data in this research. In addition, we expect that this interdisciplinary, exploratory, and tentative work could applied in other similar researches, and then, in the near future, to get an quantitative method applied effectively in functional-morphological analyses.