Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Forces and energetics of intermittent swimming

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Acta Mechanica Sinica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Experiments are reported on intermittent swimming motions. Water tunnel experiments on a nominally two-dimensional pitching foil show that the mean thrust and power scale linearly with the duty cycle, from a value of 0.2 all the way up to continuous motions, indicating that individual bursts of activity in intermittent motions are independent of each other. This conclusion is corroborated by particle image velocimetry (PIV) flow visualizations, which show that the main vortical structures in the wake do not change with duty cycle. The experimental data also demonstrate that intermittent motions are generally energetically advantageous over continuous motions. When metabolic energy losses are taken into account, this conclusion is maintained for metabolic power fractions less than 1.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gleiss, A.C., Jorgensen, S.J., Liebsch, N., et al.: Convergent evolution in locomotory patterns of flying and swimming animals. Nat. Commun. 2, 352 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Fish, F.E., Fegely, J.F., Xanthopoulos, C.J.: Burst-and-coast swimming in schooling fish (notemigonus crysoleucas) with implications for energy economy. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A: Physiol. 100(3), 633–637 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kramer, D.L., McLaughlin, R.L.: The behavioral ecology of intermittent locomotion 1. Am. Zool. 41(2), 137–153 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Weihs, D.: Energetic advantages of burst swimming of fish. J. Theor. Biol. 48(1), 215–229 (1974)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Videler, J.J., Weihs, D.: Energetic advantages of burst-and-coast swimming of fish at high speeds. J. Exp. Biol. 97(1), 169–178 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Lighthill, M.J.: Large-amplitude elongated-body theory of fish locomotion. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B: Biol. Sci. 179(1055), 125–138 (1971)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Webb, P.W.: Hydrodynamics and energetics of fish propulsion. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Department of the Environment Fisheries and Marine Service, 190, 158 (1975)

  8. Anderson, E.J., Mcgillis, W.R., Grosenbaugh, M.A.: The boundary layer of swimming fish. J. Exp. Biol. 204(1), 81–102 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Blake, R.W.: Functional design and burst-and-coast swimming in fishes. Can. J. Zool. 61(11), 2491–2494 (1983)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chung, M.H.: On burst-and-coast swimming performance in fish-like locomotion. Bioinspir. Biomim. 4(3), 036001 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wu, G., Yang, Y., Zeng, L.: Kinematics, hydrodynamics and energetic advantages of burst-and-coast swimming of koi carps (cyprinus carpio koi). J. Exp. Biol. 210(12), 2181–2191 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Floryan, D., Van Buren, T., Rowley, C.W., et al.: Scaling the propulsive performance of heaving and pitching foils. J. Fluid Mech. arXiv:1704.07478 (2017)

  13. Sciacchitano, A., Wieneke, B., Scarano, F.: PIV uncertainty quantification by image matching. Meas. Sci. Technol. 24(4), 045302 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Akoz, E., Moored, K.W.: Unsteady propulsion by an intermittent swimming gait. ArXiv:1703.06185 (2017)

  15. Van Buren, T., Floryan, D., Quinn, D., et al.: Nonsinusoidal gaits for unsteady propulsion. Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 053101 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. White, F.M.: Fluid Mechanics, 7 edn. McGraw Hill, New York (2011)

  17. Dormand, J.R., Prince, P.J.: A family of embedded Runge-Kutta formulae. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 6(1), 19–26 (1980)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  18. Shampine, L.F., Reichelt, M.W.: The MATLAB ODE suite. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 18(1), 1–22 (1997)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  19. Barrett, D.S., Triantafyllou, M.S., Yue, D.K.P., et al.: Drag reduction in fish-like locomotion. J. Fluid Mech. 392, 183–212 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-14-1-0533) (Program Manager Robert Brizzolara). We would also like to thank Dr. Keith Moored for stimulating our interests in intermittent swimming.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    Daniel Floryan, Tyler Van Buren & Alexander J. Smits

Authors
  1. Daniel Floryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tyler Van Buren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Alexander J. Smits
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Floryan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Floryan, D., Van Buren, T. & Smits, A.J. Forces and energetics of intermittent swimming. Acta Mech. Sin. 33, 725–732 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-017-0694-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-017-0694-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation