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On the relationship between efficiency and wake structure of a batoid-inspired oscillating fin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Peter A. Dewey ,
Antoine Carriou  and
Alexander J. Smits
Peter A. Dewey*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
Antoine Carriou
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France
Alexander J. Smits
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

A mechanical representation of batoid-like propulsion using a flexible fin with an elliptical planform shape is used to study the hydrodynamics of undulatory propulsion. The wake is found to consist of a series of interconnected vortex rings, whereby leading and trailing edge vortices of subsequent cycles become entangled with one another. Efficient propulsion is achieved when leading and trailing edge vortices coalesce at the spanwise location where most of the streamwise fluid momentum is concentrated in the wake of the fin. Both the Strouhal number and the wavelength are found to have a significant effect on the wake structure. In general, a decrease in wavelength promotes a wake transition from shedding a single vortex per half-oscillation period to shedding a pair of vortices per half-oscillation period. An increase in Strouhal number causes the wake to bifurcate a finite distance downstream of the trailing edge of the fin into a pair of jets oriented at an acute angle to the line of symmetry. The bifurcation distance decreases with increasing Strouhal number and wavelength, and it is shown to obey a simple scaling law.

JFM classification

Biological Fluid Dynamics: Propulsion Biological Fluid Dynamics: Swimming/flying Vortex Flows: Vortex dynamics
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 691 , 25 January 2012 , pp. 245 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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