A framework for design, modeling, and identification of compliant biomimetic swimmers

Research interests in fish-like devices are generally driven by the notion that through eons of evolution fish have developed optimal mechanisms for efficient propulsion and high degrees of maneuverability. Engineered fish-like devices have been developed in hope of mimicking the capabilities of their biological counterparts, but success has been marginal. This thesis considers a unique class of underactuated biomimetic swimmers with compliant bodies that swim by exploiting their structural dynamics. Practical matters surrounding the design and modeling of these swimmers are addressed and explicit references are made to fish morphology and swimming behaviours with the aim of linking biological and engineering design elements, a deficiency in existing literature. A hybrid modeling scheme is presented drawing upon conventional engineering primitives and experimental data. Both a hardware prototype swimmer and a unique motion capture system were developed to demonstrate the described methods. Experimental and simulated results are compared.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Wahab, Adam Joseph

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Kamal Youcef-Toumi.

• 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/1721.1/46368

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/46368