Hydrodynamics and Flow Characterization of Tuna-Inspired Propulsion in Forward Swimming

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junshi Wang ◽  
Huy Tran ◽  
Martha Christino ◽  
Carl White ◽  
Joseph Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Underwater Vehicle ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Computational Effort ◽  
The Body ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Ring Structures

Abstract A combined experimental and numerical approach is employed to study the hydrodynamic performance and characterize the flow features of thunniform swimming by using a tuna-inspired underwater vehicle in forward swimming. The three-dimensional, time-dependent kinematics of the body-fin system of the underwater vehicle is obtained via a stereo-videographic technique. A high-fidelity computational model is then directly reconstructed based on the experimental data. A sharp-interface immersed-boundary-method (IBM) based incompressible flow solver is employed to compute the flow. The primary objective of the computational effort is to quantify the thrust performance of the model. The body kinematics and hydrodynamic performances are quantified and the dynamics of the vortex wake are analyzed. Results have shown significant leading-edge vortex at the caudal fin and unique vortex ring structures in the wake. The results from this work help to bring insight into understanding the thrust producing mechanism of thunniform swimming and to provide potential suggestions in improving the hydrodynamic performance of swimming underwater vehicles.

Computational Investigation of Thrust Production of a Dolphin at Various Swimming Speeds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junshi Wang ◽  
Vadim Pavlov ◽  
Zhipeng Lou ◽  
Haibo Dong
Keyword(s):  
Surface Pressure ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Reconstruction Method ◽  
Force Coefficient ◽  
Speed Increase ◽  
Generation Mechanisms ◽  
Thrust Production

Abstract Dolphins are known for their outstanding swimming performance. However, the difference in flow physics at different speeds remains elusive. In this work, the underlying mechanisms of dolphin swimming at three speeds, 2 m/s, 5 m/s, and 8 m/s, are explored using a combined experimental and numerical approach. Using the scanned CAD model of the Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) and virtual skeleton-based surface reconstruction method, a three-dimensional high-fidelity computational model is obtained with time-varying kinematics. A sharp-interface immersed-boundary-method (IBM) based direct numerical simulation (DNS) solver is employed to calculate the corresponding thrust production, wake structure, and surface pressure at different swimming speeds. It is found that the fluke keeps its effective angle of attack at high values for about 60% of each stroke. The total pressure force coefficient along the x-axis converges as the speed increase. The flow and surface pressure analysis both show considerable differences between lower (2 m/s) and higher (5 m/s and 8 m/s) speeds. The results from this work help to bring new insight into understanding the force generation mechanisms of the highly efficient dolphin swimming and offer potential suggestions to the future designs of unmanned underwater vehicles.

A Multibody System Model for Meshing Gears

2010 ◽  
Vol 44-47 ◽  
pp. 1273-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Lei
Keyword(s):  
Multibody Dynamics ◽  
Multibody System ◽  
Gear Wheel ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Computational Effort ◽  
Rigid Bodies ◽  
The Body ◽  
System Model ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Elastic Elements

As a type of numerical approach to dynamics of gears, multibody dynamics method can handle realistic cases of contact modeling with acceptable accuracy and considerably less computational effort. The ability to simulate contact between teeth has become an essential topic in multibody dynamics. Fully rigid method is not suited for a high quality of the analysis to take into account some elasticity in the model of meshing gear wheels. In our new approach the circumferentially rotatable rigid teeth and elastic elements composed of rotational spring-damper combinations are hereby put forward. The teeth and the body of each gear wheel are still regarded as rigid bodies, but they are connected with each other by elastic elements. Besides, Lankarani & Nikravesh Contact Model is utilized, which counts energy dissipation by means of viscous damping. Both large motions with revolutions and important elasticity are considered in this teeth-wheel multibody system model. Two examples are provided in which the simulation results of completely rigid method, the approach in [10], our new approach and finite element methods are compared. Comparisons indicate that our newly developed approach is more suitable for modeling multibody geared systems.

Actively flapping tandem flexible flags in a viscous flow

2015 ◽  
Vol 780 ◽  
pp. 120-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad Uddin ◽  
Wei-Xi Huang ◽  
Hyung Jin Sung
Keyword(s):  
Viscous Flow ◽  
Immersed Boundary Method ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
The Body ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Flexible Body ◽  
Flexible Bodies ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Heave Motion

The active flapping motions of fish and cetaceans generate both propulsive and manoeuvring forces. The tail fin motions of the majority of fish can essentially be viewed as a combined pitch-and-heave motion. Downstream bodies are strongly influenced by the vortices shed from an upstream body. To investigate the interactions between flexible bodies and vortices, the present study examined tandem flexible flags in a viscous flow by using an improved version of the immersed boundary method. The upstream flag underwent passive flapping in a uniform flow while the downstream flag flapped according to a prescribed pitching and heaving motion of the leading edge. The influences of the active flapping motion on the system dynamics were examined in detail, including the frequency, the phase angle, the bending coefficient and the amplitudes of the pitching and heaving motion. The variation of the drag coefficient of the downstream flag was explored together with the instantaneous vorticity contours and the body shapes. Both the slalom mode and the interception mode were identified according to the vortex–flexible body interactions, corresponding to the low- and high-drag situations, respectively. The underlying mechanism was discussed and compared with previous studies.

On the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation

1973 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Lighthill
Keyword(s):  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Separation Bubble ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
The Body ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Encarsia Formosa ◽  
Concentrated Force ◽  
Stagnation Points ◽  
Wing Tips

Weis-Fogh (1973) proposed a new mechanism of lift generation of fundamental interest. Surprisingly, it could work even in inviscid two-dimensional motions starting from rest, when Kelvin's theorem states that the total circulation round a body must vanish, but does not exclude the possibility that if the body breaks into two pieces then there may be equal and opposite circulations round them, each suitable for generating the lift required in the pieces’ subsequent motions! The ‘fling’ of two insect wings of chord c (figure 1) turning with angular velocity Ω generates irrotational motions associated with the sucking of air into the opening gap which are calculated in § 2 as involving circulations −0·69Ωc2 and + 0.69Ωc2 around the wings when their trailing edges, which are stagnation points of those irrotational motions, break apart (position (f)). Viscous modifications to this irrotational flow pattern by shedding of vorticity at the boundary generate (§ 3) a leading-edge separation bubble, and tend to increase slightly the total bound vorticity. Its role in a three-dimensional picture of the Weis-Fogh mechanism of lift generation, involving formation of trailing vortices at the wing tips, and including the case of a hovering insect like Encarsia formosa moving those tips in circular paths, is investigated in § 4. The paper ends with the comment that the far flow field of such very small hovering insects should take the form of the exact solution (Landau 1944; Squire 1951) of the Navier-Stokes equations for the effect of a concentrated force (the weight mg of the animal) acting on a fluid of kinematic viscosity v and density p, whenever the ratio mg/pv2 is small enough for that jet-type induced motion to be stable.

Application of a Boundary Element Method for Wave-Body Interaction Problems Considering the Non-Linear Water Surface

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ferreira González ◽  
Jonas Bechthold ◽  
Moustafa Abdel-Maksoud
Keyword(s):  
Water Surface ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Free Water ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Panel Method ◽  
The Body ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Wigley Hull ◽  
Tank Test

In this paper an existing time domain panel method, which was originally developed for propeller flow simulations, is extended by implementing the mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian approach for the computation of the non-linear free water surface. The three-dimensional panel method uses a constant source and doublet density distribution on each panel and a Dirichlet boundary condition to solve the velocity potential in every time step. Additionally, a formulation for the acceleration potential is included in order to determine the hydrodynamic forces accurately. The paper gives an overview on the governing equations and introduces the numerical approach. Validation results of the developed method are presented for the wave resistance of a submerged spheroid and a wigley hull. Additionally, the wave diffraction due to a surface piercing cylinder in regular waves is validated regarding the forces and the water surface elevation around the body. Here, the computations are compared with other numerical methods as well as tank test results. Apart from this, the paper deals with an application example showing simulations of an artificial service vessel catamaran in waves. The forces on the hull with and without forward speed are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the presented results and a brief outlook on further work.

Computational Analysis of 3D Fin-Fin Interaction in Fish’s Steady Swimming

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pan Han ◽  
Geng Liu ◽  
Yan Ren ◽  
Haibo Dong
Keyword(s):  
Immersed Boundary Method ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Caudal Fin ◽  
Wake Patterns ◽  
Undulatory Swimming ◽  
Swimming Kinematics ◽  
Full Body

Three-dimensional numerical simulations are used to investigate the hydrodynamic performance and the wake patterns of a sunfish in steady swimming. Immersed boundary method for deformable attaching bodies (IBM-DAB) are used to handle complex moving boundaries of one solid body (fish body) attached with several membranes (fins). The effects of the vortices shed from both the dorsal and anal fins on the hydrodynamic performance of the caudal fin are analyzed by prescribing an undulatory swimming kinematics to a full body sunfish model. Results show that both the dorsal fin vortices and the anal fin vortices can increase the thrust and efficiency of the caudal fin comparing to caudal fin only case. This is because the dorsal/anal fin not only can feed vorticity into the caudal fin wake via vortex shedding, but also can modulate the flow in the downstream in a way of forming a jet with stronger backward component.

Prediction of Sheet Cavitation on a Rudder Subject to Propeller Flow

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (01) ◽  
pp. 65-75
Author(s):  
Spyros A. Kinnas ◽  
Hanseong Lee ◽  
Hua Gu ◽  
Shreenaath Natarajan
Keyword(s):  
Velocity Field ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Slip Boundary Condition ◽  
The Body ◽  
Solid Boundary ◽  
Blade Surface ◽  
Lattice Method ◽  
Sheet Cavitation ◽  
Pressure Distributions

This paper presents two numerical methods, a vortex lattice method (MPUF-3A) coupled with a finite volume method (GBFLOW-3D) and a boundary element method (PROPCAV), which are applied to predict time-averaged sheet cavitation on rudders, including the effects of the propeller as well as of the tunnel walls. The coupled MPUF-3A and GBFLOW-3D determines the velocity field due to the propeller within the fluid domain bounded by tunnel walls. MPUF-3A solves the potential flow around the propeller by distributing the line vortices and sources on the blade mean camber surface and determines the pressure distributions on the blade surface. GBFLOW-3D solves Euler equations with the body force terms converted from the pressure distributions on the blade surface and determines the total velocity field inside the fluid domain. The tunnel walls are treated as a solid boundary by applying the slip boundary condition, and the propeller blades are modeled via body forces. The two methods are solved iteratively until the forces on the blade converge. The cavity prediction on the rudder is accomplished via PROPCAV, which can handle back and face leading edge or mid-chord cavitation, in the presence of the three-dimensional flow field determined by the coupled MPUF-3A and GBFLOW-3D. The present method is validated by comparing the cavity shapes and the cavity envelope with those observed and measured in experiment and computed by another method.

Vortex dynamics and hydrodynamic performance enhancement mechanism in batoid fish oscillatory swimming

2021 ◽  
Vol 930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong Zhang ◽  
Qiao-Gao Huang ◽  
Guang Pan ◽  
Li-Ming Yang ◽  
Wei-Xi Huang
Keyword(s):  
Vortex Dynamics ◽  
Performance Enhancement ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Biological Data ◽  
Tip Vortex ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Transformation Theory ◽  
Enhancement Mechanism ◽  
Edge Vortex

The effects of chordwise deformation and the half-amplitude asymmetry on the hydrodynamic performance and vortex dynamics of batoid fish have been numerically investigated, in which the two parameters were represented by the wavenumber ( $W$ ) and the ratio of the half-amplitude above the longitudinal axis to that below ( $HAR$ ). Fin kinematics were prescribed based on biological data. Simulations were conducted using the immersed boundary method. It was found that moderate chordwise deformation enhances the thrust, saves the power and increases the efficiency. A large $HAR$ can also increase thrust performance. By using the derivative-moment transformation theory at several subdomains to capture the local vortical structures and a force decomposition, it was shown that, at high Strouhal numbers ( $St$ ), the tip vortex is the main source of thrust, whereas the leading-edge vortex (LEV) and trailing-edge vortex weaken the thrust generation. However, at lower $St$ , the LEV would enhance the thrust. The least deformation ( $W=0$ ) leads to the largest effective angle of attack, and thus the strongest vortices. However, moderate deformation ( $W=0.4$ ) has an optimal balance between the performance enhancement and the opposite effect of different local structures. The performance enhancement of $HAR$ was also due to the increase of the vortical contributions. This work provides a new insight into the role of vortices and the force enhancement mechanism in aquatic swimming.

Wake dynamics of external flow past a curved circular cylinder with the free stream aligned with the plane of curvature

2007 ◽  
Vol 592 ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. MILIOU ◽  
A. DE VECCHI ◽  
S. J. SHERWIN ◽  
J. M. R. GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
Circular Cylinder ◽  
Vortex Shedding ◽  
Free Stream ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Axial Flow ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
The Body ◽  
Vertical Extension ◽  
Flow Past

Three-dimensional spectral/hp computations have been performed to study the fundamental mechanisms of vortex shedding in the wake of curved circular cylinders at Reynolds numbers of 100 and 500. The basic shape of the body is a circular cylinder whose centreline sweeps through a quarter section of a ring and the inflow direction lies on the plane of curvature of the quarter ring: the free stream is then parallel to the geometry considered and the part of the ring that is exposed to it will be referred to as the ‘leading edge’. Different configurations were investigated with respect to the leading-edge orientation. In the case of a convex-shaped geometry, the stagnation face is the outer surface of the ring: this case exhibited fully three-dimensional wake dynamics, with the vortex shedding in the upper part of the body driving the lower end at one dominant shedding frequency for the whole cylinder span. The vortex-shedding mechanism was therefore not governed by the variation of local normal Reynolds numbers dictated by the curved shape of the leading edge. A second set of simulations were conducted with the free stream directed towards the inside of the ring, in the so-called concave-shaped geometry. No vortex shedding was detected in this configuration: it is suggested that the strong axial flow due to the body's curvature and the subsequent production of streamwise vorticity plays a key role in suppressing the wake dynamics expected in the case of flow past a straight cylinder. The stabilizing mechanism stemming from the concave curved geometry was still found to govern the wake behaviour even when a vertical extension was added to the top of the concave ring, thereby displacing the numerical symmetry boundary condition at this point away from the top of the deformed cylinder. In this case, however, the axial flow from the deformed cylinder was drawn into the wake of vertical extension, weakening the shedding process expected from a straight cylinder at these Reynolds numbers. These considerations highlight the importance of investigating flow past curved cylinders using a full three-dimensional approach, which can properly take into account the role of axial velocity components without the limiting assumptions of a sectional analysis, as is commonly used in industrial practice. Finally, towing-tank flow visualizations were also conducted and found to be in qualitative agreement with the computational findings.

scholarly journals A Nonlinear Computational Model of Floating Wind Turbines

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Nematbakhsh ◽  
David J. Olinger ◽  
Gretar Tryggvason
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Immersed Boundary ◽  
Navier Stokes Equations ◽  
Structured Grid ◽  
Gyroscopic Effects

The dynamic motion of floating wind turbines is studied using numerical simulations. The full three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are solved on a regular structured grid using a level set method for the free surface and an immersed boundary method for the turbine platform. The tethers, the tower, the nacelle, and the rotor weight are included using reduced-order dynamic models, resulting in an efficient numerical approach that can handle nearly all the nonlinear hydrodynamic forces on the platform, while imposing no limitation on the platform motion. Wind speed is assumed constant, and rotor gyroscopic effects are accounted for. Other aerodynamic loadings and aeroelastic effects are not considered. Several tests, including comparison with other numerical, experimental, and grid study tests, have been done to validate and verify the numerical approach. The response of a tension leg platform (TLP) to different amplitude waves is examined, and for large waves, a nonlinear trend is seen. The nonlinearity limits the motion and shows that the linear assumption will lead to overprediction of the TLP response. Studying the flow field behind the TLP for moderate amplitude waves shows vortices during the transient response of the platform but not at the steady state, probably due to the small Keulegan–Carpenter number. The effects of changing the platform shape are considered, and finally, the nonlinear response of the platform to a large amplitude wave leading to slacking of the tethers is simulated.

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