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Thrust generation and wake structure of wiggling hydrofoil

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  • 1. School of Aircraft Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, P. R. China;
    2. School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China;
    3. School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China;
    4. The State key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, P. R. China

Received date: 2009-06-17

  Revised date: 2010-04-06

  Online published: 2010-05-01

Abstract

Marine animals and micro-machines often use wiggling motion to generate thrust. The wiggling motion can be modeled by a progressive wave where its wavelength describes the flexibility of wiggling animals. In the present study, an immersed boundary method is used to simulate the flows around the wiggling hydrofoil NACA 65-010 at low Reynolds numbers. One can find from the numerical simulations that the thrust generation is largely determined by the wavelength. The thrust coefficients decrease with the increasing wavelength while the propulsive efficiency reaches a maximum at a certain wavelength due to the viscous effects. The thrust generation is associated with two different flow patterns in the wake: the well-known reversed Karman vortex streets and the vortex dipoles. Both are jet-type flows where the thrust coefficients associated with the reversed Karman vortex streets are larger than the ones associated with the vortex diploes.

Cite this article

HE Guo-Yi;ZHANG Shu-Guang;ZHANG Xing . Thrust generation and wake structure of wiggling hydrofoil[J]. Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, 2010 , 31(5) : 585 -592 . DOI: 10.1007/s10483-010-0506-9

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