Current Research | Biomimetics

Hydrodynamics of soft-body bio-inspired underwater vehicle, biomimetic underwater propulsion, and analysis of stability of bio-inspired robotic fish using CFD

By Yang Luo, Dr Qing Xiao

Natural selection, survival of the fittest. Marine organisms have many features suitable for the survival of underwater environment, and they can achieve extraordinary propulsion efficiencies, acceleration andmaneuverability with low noise. Therefore, it is of great significance to study bio-inspired propulsion to develop underwater vehicle with high performance.

The current research indicate that deformable/flexible fins have better propulsion performance than rigid counterparts. However, the underlying mechanism still remains not so clear to us. Our research group have been focusingon the principle behind it using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques. And some exciting findings have been brought by us which can be found in our previous publications.

My current research aims at further developing our in-house code by extending the in-built structural model. Through solving the coupled fluid and structural governing equations, we can investigate the interaction of flow and the soft fins and body of fishes in swimming. Thus, it will help us to have a better understanding of the propulsion in marine and provide a reference for the future design of underwater vehicle.