Liu W, Li N, Zhao J, Su Y. Wake structure and hydrodynamic performance of
flapping foils mimicking fish fin kinematics.
Saudi J Biol Sci 2017;
24:1344-1354. [PMID:
28855830 PMCID:
PMC5562471 DOI:
10.1016/j.sjbs.2016.09.015]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2016] [Revised: 09/01/2016] [Accepted: 09/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerical simulations are used to investigate the wake structure and hydrodynamic performance of bionic flapping foils. The study is motivated by the quest to understand the fluid dynamics of fish fins and use it in the underwater propulsion. The simulations employ an immersed boundary method that makes it possible to simulate flows with complex moving boundaries on fixed Cartesian grids. A detailed analysis of the vortex topology shows that the wake of flapping foils is dominated by two sets of complex shaped vortex rings that convect at oblique angles to the wake centerline. The wake of these flapping foils is characterized by two oblique jets. Simulations are also used to examine the wake vortex and hydrodynamic performance over a range of Strouhal numbers and maximum pitch angles and the connection between the foil kinematics, vortex dynamics and force production is discussed. The results show that the variety law of the hydrodynamic performance with kinematic parameters strongly depends on the flow dynamics underlying the force production, including the orientation, interconnection and dissipation rate of the vortex rings.
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