CAREER: Hydrodynamic Sensing Mechanism of Seal Whisker

职业：海豹晶须的流体动力传感机制

• 批准号: 2327204
• 负责人: Qian Xue
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Rochester Institute of Tech
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327204&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Hydrodynamic; Sensing; Mechanism; Seal

Seal whisker sensing has recently attracted increasing research interest because of its extraordinary sensitivity and accuracy. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that blindfolded seals are able to use their uniquely-shaped whiskers to track hydrodynamic trails that were generated several minutes ago and discriminate the size and shape of upstream objects through their wakes. However, relatively little is known regarding the fundamental mechanisms driving the extraordinary sensing capabilities. The principal aim of this project is to advance our understanding of seal whisker sensing that result from its unique geometry by elucidating the roles of each geometric feature. The acquired knowledge will be transformative by inspiring innovative passive hydrodynamic sensing mechanisms associated with seal whisker geometry. The research will be integrated with a creative, bio-inspired engineering education plan to impact undergraduate and graduate engineering students, as well as students in grades 3-12, and the general public.The research will employ numerical fluid-structure interaction simulations to comprehensively characterize the individual and interactive effects of the geometric features of seal whisker on three aspects of its sensing, including (1) self-induced noises in calm waters caused by vortex-induced vibrations, (2) wake detection through wake-induced vibrations, and (3) whisker array signals. An in-house immersed-boundary-method based fluid-structure interaction solver will be used for parametric simulations of vortex-induced vibrations and wake-induced vibrations of a single whisker and multiple whiskers in wide ranges of geometric and flow parameters. The simulation results will be validated by comparing to the previously-obtained experimental measurements using the particle image velocimetry. The amplitude and frequency responses of the vibrations of different geometric models will be characterized in the parametric space. Empirical functions for vibration response characterizations will be derived. The underlying vortex dynamics and energy transfer mechanisms in terms of the interactions between the fluid forces and body displacement will be studied for understanding the vibration responses. The knowledge will not only inspire innovative hydrodynamic sensing mechanisms based on seal whisker geometry, but also contribute to the fundamental understanding of flow-induced vibration properties of bluff and slender bodies, which can have applications across broad engineering fields. The research will also investigate the signal patterns in the whisker arrays and their relationships with wake characteristics, which will have implications regarding the impact of array architecture in capturing wake information. This project is jointly funded by the Fluids Dynamics Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

海豹须传感由于其非凡的灵敏度和准确性，近年来引起了越来越多的研究兴趣。行为研究表明，蒙着眼睛的海豹能够利用它们独特的形状的胡须来跟踪几分钟前产生的流体动力学轨迹，并通过它们的尾迹来区分上游物体的大小和形状。然而，关于驱动这种非凡的传感能力的基本机制，人们知之甚少。这个项目的主要目的是通过阐明每个几何特征的作用来促进我们对海豹胡须感知的理解，这种感知是由于海豹胡须独特的几何特征造成的。所获得的知识将通过激发与密封晶须几何形状相关的创新的被动流体动力传感机制而产生变革。这项研究将与一项创造性的、受生物启发的工程教育计划相结合，以影响本科生和工程学研究生，以及3-12年级的学生和普通公众。研究将使用数值流固相互作用模拟来综合表征海豹须的几何特征对其传感的三个方面的个体和交互影响，包括(1)涡激振动在平静水域中产生的自感噪声，(2)尾迹诱发振动的尾迹检测，以及(3)晶须阵列信号。一个基于内部浸没边界方法的流固耦合求解器将被用来在大范围的几何参数和流动参数范围内对单个晶须和多个晶须的涡激振动和尾迹诱发振动进行参数模拟。模拟结果将通过与之前使用粒子图像测速仪获得的实验测量结果进行比较来验证。不同几何模型的振动幅值和频率响应将在参数空间中进行表征。将推导出振动响应表征的经验函数。根据流体作用力和物体位移之间的相互作用，我们将研究潜在的涡流动力学和能量传递机制，以了解振动响应。这些知识不仅将启发基于密封须几何形状的创新流体动力传感机制，还将有助于从根本上理解钝体和细长物体的流致振动特性，这将在广泛的工程领域中得到应用。这项研究还将调查晶须阵列中的信号模式及其与尾迹特征的关系，这将对阵列结构在捕获尾迹信息方面的影响产生影响。该项目由流体动力学计划和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。