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Effects of stiffness distribution and spanwise deformation on the dynamics of a ray-supported caudal fin.

Authors :
Zhu Q
Bi X
Source :
Bioinspiration & biomimetics [Bioinspir Biomim] 2017 Mar 07; Vol. 12 (2), pp. 026011. Date of Electronic Publication: 2017 Mar 07.
Publication Year :
2017

Abstract

Using a fluid-structure interaction model, we study the effect of ray stiffness distribution on the deformation and performance of a caudal fin. By prescribing a simple swaying motion, our results show that through passive structural deformation alone it is possible to reproduce some complicated fin movements (e.g. the cup and 'W'-shape deformations) observed in real fish. Moreover, it has been numerically shown that, compared with a fin with uniform ray stiffness, at the same (average) ray stiffness fins with nonuniform stiffness distribution may achieve further performance enhancement, e.g. increase in propulsion efficiency and decrease in lateral force generation. This is attributed to spanwise deformations caused by phase differences between different rays.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1748-3190
Volume :
12
Issue :
2
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Bioinspiration & biomimetics
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
28140357
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/aa5d3f