Biomimetic Survival Hydrodynamics and Flow Sensing

Journal article (2016)

Authors

M. S. Triantafyllou Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Gabriel D. Weymouth University of Southampton
Jianmin Miao Nanyang Technological University
Affiliation
External organisation
Sensors Robotics Biomimetics Flow control Maneuvering
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2016

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Affiliation

External organisation

Abstract

The fluid mechanics employed by aquatic animals in their escape or attack maneuvers, what we call survival hydrodynamics, are fascinating because the recorded performance in animals is truly impressive. Such performance forces us to pose some basic questions on the underlying flow mechanisms that are not yet in use in engineered vehicles. A closely related issue is the ability of animals to sense the flow velocity and pressure field around them in order to detect and discriminate threats in environments where vision or other sensing is of limited or no use. We review work on animal flow sensing and actuation as a source of inspiration and as a way to formulate a number of basic problems and investigate the flow mechanisms that enable animals to perform these remarkable maneuvers. We also describe some intriguing mechanisms of actuation and sensing.