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Underlying principle of efficient propulsion in flexible plunging foils

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Abstract

Passive flexibility was found to enhance propulsive efficiency in swimming animals. In this study, we numerically investigate the roles of structural resonance and hydrodynamic wake resonance in optimizing efficiency of a flexible plunging foil. The results indicates that (1) optimal efficiency is not necessarily achieved when the driving frequency matches the structural eigenfrequency; (2) optimal efficiency always occurs when the driving frequency matches the wake resonant frequency of the time averaged velocity profile. Thus, the underlying principle of efficient propulsion in flexible plunging foil is the hydrodynamic wake resonance, rather than the structural resonance. In addition, we also found that whether the efficiency can be optimized at the structural resonant point depends on the strength of the leading edge vortex relative to that of the trailing edge vortex. The result of this work provides new insights into the role of passive flexibility in flapping-based propulsion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LNM, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China

    Xiao-Jue Zhu, Guo-Wei He & Xing Zhang

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  1. Xiao-Jue Zhu
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  2. Guo-Wei He
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  3. Xing Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xing Zhang.

Additional information

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11232011, 11021262, and 11023001) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB834100).

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Zhu, XJ., He, GW. & Zhang, X. Underlying principle of efficient propulsion in flexible plunging foils. Acta Mech Sin 30, 839–845 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-014-0114-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-014-0114-x

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