Propulsion devices for locomotion at low-Reynolds number
Name
56803050-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.58 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
518f0b132aedcb205b2cff5b3c0c2200
Author(s)
Chan, Brian, 1980-
Advisor(s)
Anette Hosoi.
Date Issued
2004
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
We have designed, built, and tested three novel devices that use low-Reynolds number flows for self propulsion. The three-link swimmer is designed to swim through in a free viscous fluid using cyclic flipping motion of two rigid fins attached to a rigid midsection. Robosnail 1 uses lubrication pressures underneath a flexible, sinusoidally waving boundary to generate thrust, and Robosnail 2 uses five independently controlled translating feet segments to move on a layer of 8 percent Laponite, a shear thinning clay suspension which gives it the ability to adhere to and scale inclines and inverted surfaces. The three link swimmer was found to travel up to 0.034 body lengths per four-stroke cycle, Robosnail 1 was found to move at a speed of roughly half the wave speed of the foot (measured with respect to the snail), a result consistent for wave speeds between 0 and 2 cm/s. Robosnail 2 was able to move forward at all inclines from zero to 180 degrees inverted, with back-slip ranging from 40 to 80 percent.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-66).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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