Numerical modelling and experimental investigation of a biologically-inspired undulating propeller

Abstract

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.

The study of biologically inspired or fish-like bodies moving in liquid is an interesting and challenging research subject in the field of engineering. An understanding of the complexitics of such flows is of interest not only to biologists but also to engineers interested in developing marine vehicles and machines capable of emulating the high performance of fish propulsion. In the present work, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach using a widely available commercial code was used to investigate the fluid flows around a steady undulating marine propeller when moving in water. This CFD approach yields a complete and complex dataset that allows a detailed investigation of the undulating propulsion. The main objectives of this study were: to quantify the thrust and drag forces acting on the foil, to study the variation of the thrust with the frequency of oscillation and to compare the numerical results with experimental ones.