A study of the motion of the three-linked swimmer in viscous fluid using computational and experimental methods

An experimental and numerical study was conducted to better understand the mechanics of motion of the three-linked swimmer in viscous fluid. Numerical studies in C++ were used to predict the velocity and motion of the swimmer using a modified analytical model that considers the dynamical and orientational effects of rods at the surface of a fluid. Computational simulations were graphically used to understand the pressure and velocity distributions of the fluid-structure interactions of the three-linked swimmer, with slightly different movement, using an immersed boundary method computer program. Experiments using a mechanical prototype of a three-linked swimmer were conducted to validate and compare the numerical predictions derived from computational studies. Experimental results indicate that a flexible armed swimmer is more than three times as fast as its rigid armed counterpart. The analytical model presented in this study and the corresponding computational numerical simulations were found to capture the trends of the motion, and the predicted horizontal velocity came within 66% in value of the recorded experimental data.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Ji, Susan YeYoung, 1981-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anette Hosoi.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32763

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32763