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Three-dimensional flow structures and vorticity control in fish-like swimming

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Author(s)
Zhu, Q.
•
Wolfgang, M.J.
•
Yue, D.K.P.
•
Triantafyllou, M.S.
Date Issued
2002
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 468, p.1-28 (2002)
Abstract
We employ a three-dimensional, nonlinear inviscid numerical method, in conjunction with experimental data from live fish and from a fish-like robotic mechanism, to establish the three-dimensional features of the flow around a fish-like body swimming in a straight line, and to identify the principal mechanisms of vorticity control employed in fish-like swimming. The computations contain no structural model for the fish and hence no recoil correction. First, we show the near-body flow structure produced by the travelling-wave undulations of the bodies of a tuna and a giant danio. As revealed in cross-sectional planes, for tuna the flow contains dominant features resembling the flow around a two-dimensional oscillating plate over most of the length of the fish body. For the giant danio, on the other hand, a mixed longitudinal-transverse structure appears along the hind part of the body. We also investigate the interaction of the body-generated vortices with the oscillating caudal fin and with tail-generated vorticity. Two distinct vorticity interaction modes are identified: the first mode results in high thrust and is generated by constructive pairing of body-generated vorticity with same-sign tail-generated vorticity, resulting in the formation of a strong thrust wake; the second corresponds to high propulsive efficiency and is generated by destructive pairing of body-generated vorticity with opposite-sign tail-generated vorticity, resulting in the formation of a weak thrust wake.
Subjects
flow structures
vorticity control
fish-like
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/25620
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