Related papers: Surfing vortex rings for energy-efficient propulsi…
Pulsatile jet propulsion is a highly energy-efficient swimming mode used by aquatic animals that continues to inspire engineers of underwater vehicles. Here, we present a bio-inspired jet propulsor that combines the flexible hull of a…
This study presents the development and experimental verification of a biomimetic manta ray robot for underwater autonomous exploration. Inspired by manta rays, the robot uses flapping motion for propulsion to minimize seabed disturbance…
We study swimming of small spherical particles who regulate fluid flow on their surface by applying tangential squirming strokes. We derive translational and rotational velocities for any given stroke which is not restricted by axial…
Particles are a widespread tool for obtaining information from fluid flows. When Eulerian data are unavailable, they may be employed to estimate flow fields or to identify coherent flow structures. Here we numerically examine the…
Vortex rings are critical for thrust production underwater. In the ocean, self-propelled mesozooplankton generate vortices while swimming within a weakly stratified fluid. While large-scale biogenic transport has been observed during…
The exquisite precision of atom interferometers has sparked the interest of a large community for use cases ranging from fundamental physics to geodesy and inertial navigation. However, their practical use for onboard applications is still…
A superfluid flows without friction below a critical velocity, exhibiting zero drag force on impurities. Above this threshold, superfluidity breaks down, and the internal energy is redistributed into incoherent excitations such as vortices.…
Navigating efficiently across vortical flow fields presents a significant challenge in various robotic applications. The dynamic and unsteady nature of vortical flows often disturbs the control of underwater robots, complicating their…
This research introduces a novel hydrofoil-based propulsion framework for unmanned aquatic robots, inspired by the undulating locomotion observed in select aquatic species. The proposed system incorporates a camber-modulating mechanism to…
Efficient point-to-point navigation in the presence of a background flow field is important for robotic applications such as ocean surveying. In such applications, robots may only have knowledge of their immediate surroundings or be faced…
Flapping-based propulsive systems rely on fluid-structure interactions to produce thrust. At intermediate and high Reynolds numbers, vortex formation and organization in the wake of such systems are crucial for the generation of a…
We report experimental measurements of the flow in a cubic container submitted to a longitudinal libration, i.e. a rotation modulated in time. Velocity fields in a vertical and a horizontal plane are measured in the librating frame using a…
Autonomous ocean-exploring vehicles have begun to take advantage of onboard sensor measurements of water properties such as salinity and temperature to locate oceanic features in real time. Such targeted sampling strategies enable more…
We report an experimental study of the decay of grid-generated turbulence in a confined geometry submitted to a global rotation. Turbulence is generated by rapidly towing a grid in a parallelepipedic water tank. The velocity fields of a…
This study aims to exploit the analogy of vortex dynamics in a 2D ideal fluid and 2D non-neutral plasma. Numerical simulations using contour dynamics with adaptive refinement are conducted to study the dynamics of one or more vortices…
A current-aided inertial navigation framework is proposed for small autonomous underwater vehicles in long-duration operations (> 1 hour), where neither frequent surfacing nor consistent bottom-tracking are available. We instantiate this…
Vortex dynamics are an important topic in fluid dynamics, explaining phenomena like drag and lift generation, jet propulsion, and corner flows. It is also often excluded from introductory or undergraduate fluid dynamics courses on account…
The last few decades have led to the rise of research focused on propulsion and control systems for bio-inspired unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), which provide more maneuverable alternatives to traditional UUVs in underwater missions.…
Exploring bodies of water on their surface allows robots to efficiently communicate and harvest energy from the sun. On the water surface, however, robots often face highly unstructured environments, cluttered with plant matter, animals,…
This paper presents aims at mobility improvement of flexible underwater robots. For this purpose, a novel propulsion method using planar structural vibration pattern is proposed, and tested on two kinds of prototypes. The result of…