Vortex Dynamics from Burst-and-Coast Motion of Anguilliform and Carangiform Swimmers

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to analyze how burst-and-coast swimming affects vortex formation, wake structure, and hydrodynamic forces in anguilliform and carangiform fish, revealing insights for bio-inspired robot design.

Contribution

It provides new understanding of vortex dynamics and wake structures during burst-and-coast swimming, linking kinematics to hydrodynamic forces in fish-like swimmers.

Findings

Burst-and-coast motion produces bow-shaped wakes.

Higher Strouhal number increases drag during intermittent swimming.

Wake coherence increases with duty cycle, resembling continuous undulation.

Abstract

Fish perform various propulsive maneuvers while swimming by generating traveling waves along their bodies and producing thrust through tail strokes. Anguilliform swimmers spread motion along the body, while carangiform swimmers' motion is more prominent near their tails. Many species also switch between continuous undulation and intermittent swimming, such as burst-and-coast maneuver, which can save energy but can also change the wake structure and hydrodynamic forces. Our current study aims at explaining} how duty cycle (DC), undulatory gaits, and Strouhal number (St), shape the near-body vortices, overall wakes, and the hydrodynamic forces. We carry out three-dimensional simulations at Re = 3000 for flows around an eel (anguilliform) and a Jack Fish (carangiform) for DC = 0.2-1.0 and St = 0.30 and 0.40. Our results reveal that the burst-and-coast motion for both swimmer produce bow-shaped wakes, the two rows of which on the sides approach each other to form a more coherent wake as DC is increased to 1.0 that corresponds to the wake of continuously undulating swimmers. It is also found that the intermittent motion at a higher Strouhal number produces more drag, contrary to the continuous undulatory kinematics. We further investigate this behavior by quantifying the strengths of vortices produced around the two swimmers and their instantaneous kinematic metrics. A detailed analysis for the role of different body sections in the production of unsteady streamwise forces is also presented. These insights provide important connections between the swimmers' physiologies, their kinematics, and the governing vortex dynamics to attain certain hydrodynamic metrics for designing next-generation autonomous bio-inspired underwater robots.