Bio-inspired Fluid Dynamic Energy Conversion

该项目旨在开发和展示新的实验和分析方法，用于将生物灵感整合到小规模流体动力能量转换系统的设计中。以前的调查，从天然的空气动力和水动力能源的能量转换依赖于简化的工程模型的流体物理，这是有限的有效性，以流动的空间和时间的复杂性比在自然界中观察到的。因此，相关的设计方法在可以实现的流体动力学能量转换的效率和多功能性方面表现出固有的限制。通过提取动物成功操纵流体-结构相互作用的基础物理学，我们将拥有开发工程技术所需的工具，当能量储存而不是运动是功能目标时，这些技术也同样有效。该项目的目标是扩展PI在确定转换为流体动力能的机制方面的先前进展，以解决从天然空气动力和水动力能源中提取能量的问题。智力优势：拟议的研究将解决通过与固体结构的多尺度相互作用来操纵流体能量的物理问题。此外，该项目中展示的科学方法可以将快速增长的“生物启发工程”实践从定性艺术转变为严格的定量工程工具。合并后的框架将提高我们在分析和改进现有的基于流体的能源系统中应用流体动力学原理的能力，并优化包含流体输送的新能源技术的设计。 在这一过程中，将确定生物和环境流体-结构相互作用过程中控制能量的不稳定（随时间变化）运输和转换的物理原理。这里要检验的具体假设是，可以通过操纵涡度的一阶矩从入射涡中提取动能。这一假设和相关的研究问题将结合独特的，多尺度的实验室实验，最近开发的理论概念，在涡流动力学，和定量研究的自由游泳的水母在实验室和现场进行调查。更广泛的影响：将开发一套研究工具，将水母动力学知识应用于从心脏病（通过类似的漩涡动力学）到生物传感器技术（通过类似的流体趋化性）等问题。PI和当地海洋教育中心之间的现有伙伴关系将促进教育和推广。这种关系将被用来为K- 12教育的学生提供“动手”的科学介绍，作为提高我们的生活质量，同时保护我们的自然资源的一种手段。最后，PI将在校园辅导计划中保持领导地位，该计划将代表性不足的新生介绍给加州理工学院的研究环境。

This project aims to develop and demonstrate novel experimental and analytical methods for the integration of biological inspiration in the design of small-scale fluid dynamic energy conversion systems. Previous investigations of energy conversion from natural aero- and hydrodynamic power sources have relied on simplified engineering models of the fluid physics, which are limited in validity to flows of a lesser spatial and temporal complexity than those observed in nature. Consequently, the associated design methodologies exhibit inherent limits in the efficiency and versatility of fluid dynamic energy conversion that can be achieved. By extracting the fundamental physics underlying the successful manipulation of fluid-structure interactions by animals, we will possess the tools necessary to develop engineering technologies that can be similarly effective when energy storage is the functional aim instead of locomotion. The objective of this project is to extend previous progress by the PI in determining the mechanisms of conversion to fluid dynamic energy, to address the problem of energy extraction from natural aero- and hydrodynamic power sources. Intellectual Merit: The proposed research will resolve the physics governing the manipulation of fluid energy via multi-scale interactions with solid structures. Furthermore, the scientific methods demonstrated in this project can lead a transformation of the rapidly growing practice of "bio-inspired engineering" from a qualitative art to a rigorous, quantitative engineering tool. The combined framework will enhance our ability to apply fluid dynamics principles in the analysis and improvement of existing fluid-based energy systems, and to optimize the design of new energy technologies that incorporate fluid transport. In the process, the physical principles that govern the unsteady (time-dependent) transport and conversion of energy during biological and environmental fluid-structure interactions will be identified. The specific hypothesis to be tested here is that kinetic energy can be extracted from incident vortices by manipulating the first moment of vorticity. This hypothesis and the associated research questions will be investigated by combining unique, multi-scale laboratory experiments, recently developed theoretical concepts in vortex dynamics, and quantitative studies of free-swimming jellyfish in the laboratory and in the field. Broader Impact: A suite of research tools developed will be developed, which enable application of what is learned about jellyfish dynamics to problems ranging from heart disease (via analogous vortex dynamics) to bio-sensor technology (via analogous fluid chemotaxis). Education and outreach will be facilitated by an existing partnership between the PI and a local marine education center. This relationship will be leveraged to provide students in K- 12 education with a "hands-on" introduction to science as a means of improving our quality of life while preserving our natural resources. Finally, the PI will maintain a leadership role in a campus mentoring program that introduces underrepresented incoming freshmen to the research environment at Caltech.