​​​​Ahmed Hussein

Stable, Planar Self Propulsion Using a Hinged Flap

NSF Project - CMMI-1635143

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In this project, we solved the fluid-structure interaction problem described by the hydrodynamic loads generated by the motion of a flapping fish tail. We considered a three different cases when using the two-dimensional unsteady vortex lattice method (UVLM). The cases are rigid, active, and passive flexible. The results show that the passive flexible case introduce some enhancement in the propulsive efficiency. However, these improvement was not supported by those of the active flexible ones. To overcome this inconsistency, we used the three-dimensional UVLM to accurately model the hydrodynamics chordwise and spanwise load distributions on the tail. The results showed that the more the flexibility increases the more improvement in propulsive efficiency we have compared to a rigid tail. Part of the results are documented in this paper and the other is in a manuscript under-review.