Numerical study of the correlation between fish school arrangement and propulsive performance.

We focus on the distances in flow direction and its vertical direction on three fish school arrangements, and correlate the fish school in uniform flow with fluid forces which can be divided into two components, drag and thrust, by three-dimensional fluid–structure interaction simulations. It is found that the distance in flow direction has larger impact on both two components than the distance in vertical to that direction. Drag and thrust are reduced and improved in fish school swimming more than single fish swimming, as the distance in flow direction becomes larger. Pressure and velocity fields that are generated around fish school favorable to propulsion under such conditions are also investigated in the present paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]