Design of two-tailed swimmer to swim at low-Reynolds number
Name
565894774-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.67 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f65b4f8791493e3bce09321ab766fbbf
Author(s)
Cole, Sarah Elizabeth, S. B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Anette E. Hosoi.
Date Issued
2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In the realm of systems with Reynolds numbers less than 1, swimming is a difficult task. Viscous forces from the fluid dominate inertial forces. In order to propel itself, a mechanism must be designed to overcome the viscous forces from the fluid and satisfy the non-reciprocal, cyclic motion requirements of the Scallop Theorem. Furthermore, a swimmer must employ one of the three mechanisms stated by Purcell to be capable of swimming at low Reynolds number, a three link swimmer, a corkscrew, or a flexible tail. Three devices utilizing the flexible-tail paradigm of swimming were tested using silicon oil to simulate a Reynolds number of approximately 0.6. Design parameters were uncovered which determine the successfulness of the swimmer and can be used for creating future successful flexible-tail swimmers.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 30).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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