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Vortex interaction between two tandem flexible propulsors with a paddling-based locomotion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2016

Sung Goon Park
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea
Hyung Jin Sung*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34141, Korea
*
†Email address for correspondence: hjsung@kaist.ac.kr

Abstract

Schooling behaviours among self-propelled animals can benefit propulsion. Inspired by the schooling behaviours of swimming jellyfish, flexible bodies that self-propel through a paddling-based motion were modelled in a tandem configuration. This present study explored the hydrodynamic patterns generated by the interactions between two flexible bodies and the surrounding fluid in the framework of the penalty immersed boundary method. The hydrodynamic patterns produced in the wake revealed flow-mediated interactions between two tandem propulsors, including vortex–vortex and vortex–body interactions. Two tandem flexible propulsors paddling with identical amplitude and frequency produced stable configurations as a result of the flow-mediated interactions. Both the upstream and downstream propulsors benefited from the tandem configuration in terms of the locomotion velocity and the cost, compared with an isolated propulsion system. The interactions were examined as a function of the initial gap distance and the phase difference in the paddling frequency. The equilibrium gap distance between two propulsors remained constant, regardless of the initial gap distance, although it did depend on the phase difference in the paddling frequency.

Information

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2016 Cambridge University Press 
Figure 0

Figure 1.(a) Schematic diagram of two tandem swimming propulsors in a quiescent fluid and in a cylindrical computational domain. (b) Schematic diagram showing the propulsor bell, including the grid and the body force applied to the bell. Point 1 is on the centre axis and has the same $y$ location as point 3. Point 2 denotes the bell tip. Point 3 is the forcing point which satisfies the condition of the body force range in (2.9): ${\it\tau}=0.3$, $T=0.6$, ${\it\phi}=300$. (c) The time histories of the body force. The solid and dashed lines denote the body forces on the front and rear propulsors, respectively.

Figure 1

Table 1.Physical and numerical parameters.

Figure 2

Figure 2.Time histories of (a) the fineness ratio and (b) the centre velocity.

Figure 3

Figure 3.Time histories of the centre velocities over the different domain sizes (a), for different numbers of grids in the longitudinal and radial directions (b), and for different numbers of grid in the azimuthal direction (c).

Figure 4

Figure 4.Time histories of (a) the normalized diameter and (b) the centre position in the moving direction and the pressure contours at A $(t/T=8)$, B $(t/T=8+2/6)$, C $(t/T=8+3/6)$ and D $(t/T=8+4.5/6)$. Velocity contour in the moving direction at E $(t/T=8+2/6)$.

Figure 5

Figure 5.Time histories of the centre velocity. (a) $G_{o}=0$, $Re=400$, (b) $G_{o}=6$.

Figure 6

Figure 6.Time histories of the gap distance between the tandem propulsors for different initial positions.

Figure 7

Figure 7.(a) The average centre velocity, (b) the cost of transport, measured during the $n$th flapping period. The symbols indicate the simulation of two tandem swimming propulsors with different initial positions, and the dashed line indicates an isolated swimming propulsors.

Figure 8

Figure 8.Vortical structures in the wake during the 20th flapping period. (a) $t/T=20$, (b) $t/T=20+1/6$, (c) $t/T=20+2/6$, (d) $t/T=20+3/6$, (e) $t/T=20+4/6$, (f) $t/T=20+5/6$, (g) $t/T=21$. The phase difference in the flapping frequency is${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}={\rm\pi}$. The vortical structures generated are denoted by the following numbers. 1: stopping vortical structures generated during the 19th flapping period; 2: stopping vortical structures generated during the 18th flapping period; $3+4$: merging of the starting vortical structures produced during the previous and present power stroke; 5: stopping vortical structures generated by the present recovery stroke.

Figure 9

Figure 9.Schematic diagram showing the vortical structures during (a) the power stroke and (b) the recovery stroke. The numbers indicating the generated vortical structures are the same as those used in figure 8. The arrows indicate the directions of the fluid motions induced by the vortical structures.

Figure 10

Figure 10.Flow velocity vector fields surrounding two tandem swimming propulsors during the 20th flapping period. (a) $t/T=20+2/6$, (b) $t/T=20+4/6$. The flow velocity in the $y$ direction is relative to the centre velocity of RP. The contour indicates the magnitude of the velocity.

Figure 11

Figure 11.Time histories of the gap distance between two tandem propulsors, given different phase differences in the flapping frequency. (a) $0; $G_{o}=0$, $Re=400$, ${\it\tau}=0.3$, $T=0.6$ and (b) enlarged view, $24.

Figure 12

Figure 12.The equilibrium gap distance $G_{eq}$ as a function of the phase difference in the flapping frequency.

Figure 13

Figure 13.Schematic diagram showing the vortical structures during (a) the power stroke and (b) the recovery stroke, from the viewpoint of FP. The vortical structures generated are denoted by the following numbers. 1: stopping vortical structures generated during the previous flapping period; 2: starting vortical structures generated by the present power stroke; 3: stopping vortical structures generated by the present recovery stroke. The arrows indicate the directions of the fluid motions induced by the vortical structures. The phase difference in the flapping frequencies is ${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}={\rm\pi}$.

Figure 14

Figure 14.Flow velocity vector fields surrounding two tandem swimming propulsors during the 20th flapping period. (a) $t/T=20+2/6$, (b) $t/T=20+4/6$. The flow velocity in the $y$ direction is relative to the centre velocity of RP. The contour indicates the magnitude of the velocity.

Figure 15

Figure 15.(a) The centre velocity and (b) the cost of transport as a function of the phase difference in the flapping frequency. The dashed line indicates the centre velocity and the cost of transport of the isolated propulsor.

Figure 16

Figure 16.Time histories of the normalized diameter for (a) ${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}=$ 0 and (b) ${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}=2{\rm\pi}/3$. The pressure contours for (a) ${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}=0$ and (b) ${\rm\Delta}{\it\gamma}=2{\rm\pi}/3$ are shown at A $(t/T=24+2/6)$ and B $(t/T=24+3/6)$. The contour level for pressure is the same as in figure 4.

Figure 17

Figure 17.The moving distances of FP and RP during the (a) contraction$(24 and (b) relaxation $(24.5 phases of FP.

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