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Wake and thrust of an angularly reciprocating plate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2013

Jeongsu Lee ,
Yong-Jai Park ,
Useok Jeong ,
Kyu-Jin Cho  and
Ho-Young Kim
Jeongsu Lee
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea
Yong-Jai Park
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea
Useok Jeong
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea
Kyu-Jin Cho
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea
Ho-Young Kim*
Affiliation:
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea
*
†Email address for correspondence: hyk@snu.ac.kr
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Abstract

As one of the most important force production mechanisms of swimming and flying animals, the fluid dynamics of flapping has been intensively studied. However, these efforts have been mainly directed toward animals in forward motion or locomotive appendages undergoing linear translation. Here we seek to complement the existing knowledge of the flapping mechanism by studying angularly reciprocating flat plates without a free stream velocity, under a so-called ‘bollard pull’ condition. We visualize the flow field around the flat plate to find that two independent vortical structures are formed per half-cycle, resulting in the separation of two distinct vortex pairs at sharp edges rather than a single vortex loop which is typical of a starting–stopping vortex paradigm in flows with free streams. Based on our observations, we derive a scaling law to predict the thrust of the flapping plate; this is the first experimentally validated theoretical model for the thrust of angularly reciprocating plates without a prescribed background flow.

JFM classification

Biological Fluid Dynamics: Biological Fluid Dynamics Biological Fluid Dynamics: Propulsion Vortex Flows: Vortex Flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 720 , 10 April 2013 , pp. 545 - 557
Copyright
©2013 Cambridge University Press

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