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Self-propelled swimming of a flexible filament driven by coupled plunging and pitching motions

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Abstract

This paper numerically investigates the self-propelled swimming of a flexible filament driven by coupled pitching and plunging motions at the leading edge. The influences of bending rigidity and some actuation parameters (including the phase offset between pitching and plunging, and the amplitudes of pitching and plunging motions) on the swimming performance are explored. It is found that with increasing rigidity, the swimming style gradually transits from the undulatory mode to the oscillatory mode. The plunging-pitching actuation is found to be superior to the plunging-only actuation, in the sense that it prevents the decrease of speed at high rigidity and achieves a higher efficiency across a wide range of rigidity. The comparison of the body kinematics with those of animal swimmers, and the classification of the wake structures are discussed. The results of this study provide some novel insights for the bio-inspired design of autonomous underwater vehicles.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDB22040104, XDA22040203). We would like to thank Dr. Long-zhen Dai for the development of the FSI code, and the National Supercomputing Center in Tianjin (NSCC-TJ) for the allocation of computing time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Bing-lin Li, Xiang Zhang & Xing Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory for Mechanics in Fluid Solid Coupling Systems, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yi-wei Wang & Bo Yin

  3. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bing-lin Li, Yi-wei Wang, Bo Yin, Xiang Zhang & Xing Zhang

Authors
  1. Bing-lin Li
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  2. Yi-wei Wang
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  3. Bo Yin
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  4. Xiang Zhang
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  5. Xing Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xing Zhang.

Additional information

Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11772338, 11372331).

Biography

Bing-lin Li (1993-), Male, Master, E-mail: binglinli106@126.com

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Li, Bl., Wang, Yw., Yin, B. et al. Self-propelled swimming of a flexible filament driven by coupled plunging and pitching motions. J Hydrodyn 33, 157–169 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-021-0018-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42241-021-0018-8

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