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Alterations to the unsteady wake dynamics imposed by abrupt changes in the phase angle between two pitching side-by-side foils are computationally examined at the Reynolds number of 1000 and 4000 and Strouhal number of 0.25 – 0.5. Four hybrid modes are considered in this study inspired by the swimming habits of red nose tetra fish and burst-and-coast swimming phenomenon. At the higher Strouhal number of 0.50, abrupt changes in the phase angle result in the formation and growth of a secondary vortex street between the two primary streets, which enable and maintain a split-wake configuration. Furthermore, phase switching alters pressure levels on the top and bottom surfaces of both foils to similar levels, which attribute to lowering the side-force. The growth rate of the secondary vortex street remains consistent for all four hybrid modes. At lower Strouhal numbers (0.25 – 0.4), however, the abrupt change in the phase angle converts the wake to a single vortex street. Thus, this indicates that the wake reactions for such cases in synchronization substantially change at lower Strouhal number. Although a different behavior of total side force production is observed at a lower Reynolds number for Strouhal number of 0.50, the wake dynamics implies that phase alterations act as a similar flow control mechanism to stabilize the wake. Finally, it is identified that the suspension of oscillations significantly limits the implications of initiation of oscillations on wake dynamics and performance following abrupt changes in the phase angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform numerical simulations using immersed boundary methods for flow over fish, single and in tandem arrangements, performing traveling wave like motion. We analyze nonlinear mechanics of hydrodynamic lateral side-force and drag/thrust coefficients. We compute their Fourier spectra and find that lateral side force carries fundamental and odd harmonics while drag is composed of even harmonics when single fish swim in free-stream. For tandem arrangement, we set the phase-speed of downstream fish as 0.75 times that of upstream fish. Fourier spectra of lateral force for both upstream and downstream fish are composed of forcing frequencies of both the fish. Even harmonics of forcing frequencies along with combined modes at sum and difference of these frequencies appear in their drag-spectra. We also investigate the symmetric or antisymmetric nature of the fundamental and combined modes using the conventional symmetry principles and proper orthogonal decomposition technique. We show that the results obtained from both of these techniques agree well with each other. However, we also find some anomalies in case of fish swimming in tandem configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]