scholarly journals A ctenophore (comb jelly) employs vortex rebound dynamics and outperforms other gelatinous swimmers

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 181615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad J. Gemmell ◽  
Sean P. Colin ◽  
John H. Costello ◽  
Kelly R. Sutherland

Gelatinous zooplankton exhibit a wide range of propulsive swimming modes. One of the most energetically efficient is the rowing behaviour exhibited by many species of schyphomedusae, which employ vortex interactions to achieve this result. Ctenophores (comb jellies) typically use a slow swimming, cilia-based mode of propulsion. However, species within the genus Ocyropsis have developed an additional propulsive strategy of rowing the lobes, which are normally used for feeding, in order to rapidly escape from predators. In this study, we used high-speed digital particle image velocimetry to examine the kinematics and fluid dynamics of this rarely studied propulsive mechanism. This mechanism allows Ocyropsis to achieve size-adjusted speeds that are nearly double those of other large gelatinous swimmers. The investigation of the fluid dynamic basis of this escape mode reveals novel vortex interactions that have not previously been described for other biological propulsion systems. The arrangement of vortices during escape swimming produces a similar configuration and impact as that of the well-studied ‘vortex rebound’ phenomenon which occurs when a vortex ring approaches a solid wall. These results extend our understanding of how animals use vortex–vortex interactions and provide important insights that can inform the bioinspired engineering of propulsion systems.

Author(s):  
Yoshie Watanabe ◽  
Yuji Hashizume ◽  
Nobuyuki Fujisawa

An experimental technique for simultaneous measurement of temperature and velocity in a thermal flow is described. This technique is based on the two-color laser-induced fluorescence technique combined with the particle image velocimetry. Illumination is provided from Nd:YAG laser and the fluorescent dyes are chosen as Rhodamine B and Fluorescent Sodium, which combination allows the accurate velocity measurement in a wide range of flow velocity and high temperature sensitivity in temperature measurement. The measurement of temperature and velocity in turbulent buoyant plume is carried out by this method, and the structure of the plume is studied in connection with the entrainment of surrounding fluid at the interface.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (148) ◽  
pp. 20180441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Henningsson ◽  
Lasse Jakobsen ◽  
Anders Hedenström

In this study, we explicitly examine the aerodynamics of manoeuvring flight in animals. We studied brown long-eared bats flying in a wind tunnel while performing basic sideways manoeuvres. We used particle image velocimetry in combination with high-speed filming to link aerodynamics and kinematics to understand the mechanistic basis of manoeuvres. We predicted that the bats would primarily use the downstroke to generate the asymmetries for the manoeuvre since it has been shown previously that the majority of forces are generated during this phase of the wingbeat. We found instead that the bats more often used the upstroke than they used the downstroke for this. We also found that the bats used both drag/thrust-based and lift-based asymmetries to perform the manoeuvre and that they even frequently switch between these within the course of a manoeuvre. We conclude that the bats used three main modes: lift asymmetries during downstroke, thrust/drag asymmetries during downstroke and thrust/drag asymmetries during upstroke. For future studies, we hypothesize that lift asymmetries are used for fast turns and thrust/drag for slow turns and that the choice between up- and downstroke depends on the timing of when the bat needs to generate asymmetries.


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Hashimoto ◽  
A. Hori ◽  
T. Hara ◽  
S. Onogi ◽  
H. Mouri

Author(s):  
Mohammed El Adawy ◽  
Morgan Heikal ◽  
bin Abd. Aziz Abd. Rashid

Abstract RICARDO-VECTIS CFD simulation of the in-cylinder air flow was first validated with those of the experimental results from high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements taking cognisant of the mid-cylinder tumble plane. Furthermore, high-speed fuel spray measurements were carried out simultaneously with the intake-generated tumble motion at high valve lift using high-speed time-resolved PIV to chronicle the spatial and time-based development of air/fuel mixture. The effect of injection pressure(32.5 and 35.0 MPa) and pressure variation across the air intake valves(150, 300 and 450 mmH2O) on the interaction process were investigated at valve lift 10 mm where the tumble vortex was fully developed and filled the whole cylinder under steady-state conditions. The PIV results illustrated that the intake generated-tumble motion had a substantial impact on the fuel spray distortion and dispersion inside the cylinder. During the onset of the injection process the tumble motion diverted the spray plume slightly towards the exhaust side before it followed completely the tumble vortex. The fuel spray plume required 7.2 ms, 6.2 ms and 5.9 ms to totally follow the in-cylinder air motion for pressure differences 150, 300 and 450 mmH2O, respectively. Despite, the spray momentum was the same for the same injection pressure, the magnitude of kinetic energy was different for different cases of pressure differences and subsequently the in-cylinder motion strength.


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