Characterizing Tandem Fin Wake Using Lateral Line Inspired Sensors
Abstract
This project replicates the lateral line organ in fish with commercially available pressure sensors and uses the lateral lines abilities to study the downstream effects of tandem foils, which represent simplifications of a bioinspired propulsion system. As these foils oscillate with variable phase difference, resulting force data show the production of thrust or drag. The lateral line response is analyzed for features which correlate with the foil phase difference, while computational fluid dynamics simulations provide insights on the observed wake. This process shows that, for decreasing phase and thrust, the magnitude of the dominant frequencies detected by the lateral line also decrease as a result of increased space between paired vortices or destructive interference between fin wakes. A trend line is developed to relate this feature to phase difference using a polynomial fit, finding a negative correlation with a coefficient of determination of 0.575. This finding supports the role of the lateral line sensor in a bioinspired feedback control loop, which could enable tandem fin propulsion for underwater vehicles.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 16, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1171879
Entities
People
- Cameron B. Smith
Organizations
- United States Naval Academy