An Experimental Study on the Sea Turtle-like Propulsor

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Marine animals swim skillfully in various flow fields by controlling their thrust force, thus providing an opportunity to develop engineering technology for remote-controlled operated vehicles. In this study, we investigated the propulsion of the sea turtles and developed a propulsor with a sequential controlled oscillating fin driven by DC-servo motors. Thrust force was measured not only in a uniform flow, but also in a cyclic asymmetrical flow. In the cyclic asymmetrical flow, large thrusts were observed when the fin begins to downswing as the flow decelerates. This result suggests that this propulsion mechanism can make for efficient energy-saving technology. This propulsion mechanism can also be adopted in the asymmetrical flow, even in shallow waters.