Natural drinking strategies
Name
Bush_Natural drinking strategies.pdf
Size
1.84 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f59d001bea7b8e55dbe13735054d0bec
Author(s)
Kim, Wonjung
Bush, John W. M.
Date Issued
April 2012
Journal
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
Kim, Wonjung, and John W. M. Bush. “Natural drinking strategies.” Journal of Fluid Mechanics 705 (August 17, 2012): 7-25. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We examine the fluid mechanics of drinking in nature. We classify the drinking strategies of a broad range of creatures according to the principal forces involved, and present physical pictures for each style. Simple scaling arguments are developed and tested against existing data. While suction is the most common drinking strategy, various alternative styles have evolved among creatures whose morphological, physiological and environmental constraints preclude it. Particular attention is given to creatures small relative to the capillary length, whose drinking styles rely on relatively subtle interfacial effects. We also discuss attempts to rationalize various drinking strategies through consideration of constrained optimization problems. Some biomimetic applications are discussed.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2012.122
