Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 March 2006
The theory describing the swimming mechanism of an elongated body is extended to cover the cases of locomotion through unsteady streams in pipes. Such an extension is essential for the artificial fish ‘Pod’, a medical device which swims in the patient's blood vessel. Two approaches are considered. First, potential theory is considered, and the results achieved show that the main influence of the pipe is on evaluation of the proper virtual mass. Next the flow is assumed to be viscous. The consideration of viscosity is obviously necessary for flows in pipes. In that case the virtual mass is replaced by another equivalent mass depending on the viscosity and on the angular frequency of the lateral motion and in addition new terms appear in the local lift expressions. These are recognized as the viscous damping force.