Numerical simulation of drag reduction effect on the surface of bionic fish-scales

Abstract

With the development of marine transportation and underwater navigation technology, fluid drag reduction has become an international research hotspot as an important technical means to save energy and reduce environmental pollution. It has been found that the body surface structures of many organisms have unique drag-reduction properties. Therefore, it is feasible and important to replicate the morphological features of the body surface to the material surface. In this research, the structural features of biomimetic fish scales were summarized and extracted by observing the laminar arrangement features and morphology features of the surface scales of aquatic fish. Then, the arrangement features and morphology of fish-scales were abstracted into the oblique groove structure, and a three-dimensional model of the bionic fish-scale with a fan-shaped structure was constructed. The surface flow field of the bionic fish-scale was numerically simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics to revealing the mechanism of resistance reduction on the surface of the bionic fish-scale. The results indicate that the maximum drag reduction rate of the bionic fish scale surface is 8.40% compared with the smooth surface at a water speed of 0.6 m/s.