Towards a Fin-Inspired Flexible Propulsor for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Dr. Rajat Mittal
The March meeting of the SNAME Chesapeake Section will be Thursday, March 19, 2009, at 7:00 PM at the Washington Navy Yard.
Please
make reservations or cancellations by Friday, March 13, to
jdespirito@oceaneering.com. When making a reservation, please indicate
your entrée selection and membership status (see below). Also please
indicate if you are a foreign national.
ABSTRACT:
Towards a Fin-Inspired Flexible Propulsor for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
The
presentation will describe an ongoing research program aimed at
designing a flexible fin-inspired propulsor for autonomous underwater
vehicle. Fins provide fish with exceptional low-speed maneuvering
capabilities, and it is expected that a carefully designed,
fin-inspired propulsor will endow similar capabilities to AUVs. The
multidisciplinary project involves biologists, fluid dynamicists and
robotics experts. The goals of the GWU team are to use computational
modeling (CFD) to gain insights into the hydrodynamic performance of a
fish pectoral fin, and to guide the design of the robotic pectoral fin.
The stroke kinematics being considered corresponds to a
bluegill sunfish in steady swimming mode, and involves large-scale and
complex passive as well as active deformation of the fin. Experimental
dye visualizations have provided tantalizing glimpses into the
hydrodynamics of the flow separation and vortex formation over this fin
and the numerical simulations have been used to further unravel the
vortex dynamics and hydrodynamic force production of this fin. The
design of the robotic pectoral fin, as with any other design task, is a
compromise between complexity and performance. Thus, on a second front,
the team is using CFD to examine a hierarchy of simpler fin kinematics
which is based on the observed pectoral fin kinematics of the bluegill.
Based on this analysis, we have identified those minimal degrees of
freedom, that when incorporated into the design of the artificial
pectoral fin, will recover the key aspects of the fin performance.
BIO: Dr. Rajat Mittal, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Dr.
Mittal is a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The
George Washington University. He is also the director of the GW Center
for Biomimetics and Bioinspired Engineering (COBRE).
AGENDA:
5:00 PM – Executive Committee Meeting
6:00 PM – Check In
7:00 PM – Dinner Service
The presentation will follow dinner.
Members………………...$30.00
Members under 30…..$25.00
Visitors……………………..$35.00
Visitors under 30……….$30.00
Student Members…….No Charge
DINNER SELECTION:
1. Roast Pork Loin – Roasted with fresh herbs, sliced, and served with apple brandy sauce.
2. Red Snapper – With fresh dill sauce.
Entrees will be accompanied vegetables, garden salad, rolls and butter, coffee, tea and iced tea.
LOCATION:
Washington Navy Yard
Building 211 (Conference and Catering Center)
http://www.sname.org/sections/chesapeake/CISD/WNYMap.pdf
Please use the 6th Street gate entrance at the Navy Yard to attend SNAME Chesapeake meetings.
Please
help to announce this meeting by passing it around your office e-mail
list or posting the announcement on a bulletin board.