Study on the resistance and propulsion performance of biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle

The carp-like geometry was obtained by measurements of two carps. The swimming motion equation was fitted by the CCD image of a carp swimming in a water tunnel. Then a two-dimensional RANS (Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes solver) code was applied to solve the flow field caused by the swimming motion of carp-like geometry. The calculated results show that the lateral velocity induces a high pressure at the convex part and low pressure at the concave part of the flexible body and produces the thrust. Also, the lateral velocity convects out the vorticity from the inner region to the outer region of the boundary layer and causes laminarization of the boundary layer.