Dynamics of multi-segmented structure under fluid motion

Abstract

Elastic structures are commonly found in nature. In terms of propulsion, the response of elastic structures to the surrounding flow conditions can be utilized to enhance the propulsive performance. Instead of the a fully continuous elastic structure, the use of multi-segmented structure provide additional benefits including easier control of local structural properties and kinematic behavior. Furthermore, while restricting the degree of motion freedom, additional functionalities can be induced on multi-segmented structures such as unidirectional bending, which is hard to implement for fully continuous elastic structures. For the development of an underwater swimmer, we propose elastic systems composed of elastically connected multi-segmented structures composed of both elastic and rigid parts. Covering the dynamics of a single propulsor to a system of multiple propulsors, the presented studies aim to provide proper guidelines in understanding the coupled dynamics of the interaction between multi-bodied structure with the surrounding fluid through experimental and analytical approaches. In characterizing the dynamics of the multi-segmented structures in various flow conditions, a set of dimensionless parameters are proposed to appropriately link the intimate relationships of various geometric and kinematic parameters.