Effect of Reynolds Number and Geometry on the Undulatory Hydrodynamics of Tapered Elastic Plates

The hydrodynamic performance of oscillating elastic plates with tapered and uniform thickness in an incompressible Newtonian fluid with varying medium properties and plate geometries is investigated numerically using a fully coupled fluid–structure interaction computational model. Thickness tapering leads to the acoustic black hole effect at the propulsor trailing edge which minimizes wave reflection and promotes the development of the traveling waves propagating along the propulsor length. By leveraging the acoustic black hole effect, tapered plates can generate bending patterns that vary from standing wave to traveling wave oscillations. Simulations reveal that although standing and traveling wave oscillation modes can produce high thrust, traveling waves achieve significantly higher hydrodynamic efficiency, and this advantage is more pronounced at higher Reynolds numbers. Regardless of the oscillation mode, tapering leads to greater hydrodynamic performance. Furthermore, it is found that concentrating tapering toward the trailing edge is the optimal design strategy, and that hydrodynamic efficiency across all tested geometries can be collapsed onto a single predictive curve using a combined parameter of different kinematic metrics. The results of our simulations have implications for the development of highly efficient bio-mimetic robotic swimmers and, more generally, the better understanding of the undulatory aquatic locomotion.

Name thesis:degree_name

Mechanical Engineering, MS

Grantor

Georgia Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Lenart, Andrew Christian

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alexeev, Alexander

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• David Hu
• Suhas Jain

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81672

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/81672