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Fluid-Structure-Sound Interactions and Control pp 291–300Cite as

The Swimming of Manta Rays

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

Abstract

Manta rays propel themselves by combining oscillating and undulating motions of flexible surfaces. We describe two experiments to study the effects of excitation and flexibility on the wake flowfield: experiments on undulating and flapping three-dimensional fins of elliptical planform, and experiments on pitching two-dimensional panels of rectangular planform with varying flexibility. To interpret the results on thrust and efficiency, we propose scalings for aspect ratio and flexibility, and develop a stability analysis called wake resonance theory. Here we focus on the insights provided by wake resonance theory.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Alexander J. Smits, Keith W. Moored & Peter A. Dewey

  2. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Alexander J. Smits

Authors
  1. Alexander J. Smits
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  2. Keith W. Moored
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  3. Peter A. Dewey
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander J. Smits .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    Yu Zhou

  2. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    Yang Liu

  3. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

    Lixi Huang

  4. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dewey H. Hodges

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Smits, A.J., Moored, K.W., Dewey, P.A. (2014). The Swimming of Manta Rays. In: Zhou, Y., Liu, Y., Huang, L., Hodges, D. (eds) Fluid-Structure-Sound Interactions and Control. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40371-2_43

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40371-2_43

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-40370-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-40371-2

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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