Undulatory and oscillatory swimming

Abstract

Theory and modelling remain central to improving our understanding of undulatory and oscillatory swimming. Simple models based on added mass can help to give great insight into the mechanics of undulatory swimming, as demonstrated by animals such as eels, stingrays and knifefish. To understand the swimming of oscillatory swimmers such as tuna and dolphins, models need to consider both added mass forces and circulatory forces. For all types of swimming, experiments and theory agree that the most important velocity scale is the characteristic lateral velocity of the tail motion rather than the swimming speed, which erases to a large extent the difference between results obtained in a tethered mode, compared to those obtained using a free swimming condition. There is no one-to-one connection between the integrated swimming performance and the details of the wake structure, in that similar levels of efficiency can occur with very different wake structures. Flexibility and viscous effects play crucial roles in determining the efficiency, and for isolated propulsors changing the profile shape can significantly improve both thrust and efficiency. Also, combined heave and pitch motions with an appropriate phase difference are essential to achieve high performance. Reducing the aspect ratio will always reduce thrust and efficiency, but its effects are now reasonably well understood. Planform shape can have an important mitigating influence, as do non-sinusoidal gaits and intermittent actuation.