Vortex and wake interactions in flapping foils

多个振动翼的涡流和尾迹相互作用在各种应用中都是至关重要的。在生物学中，从单个昆虫或动物的推进能力和机动性到集体飞行/游泳的最佳群体行为，这些因素都有。在工程上，这些相互作用对于传统航天系统的性能、自主系统的编队飞行/游泳以及拍打能量收集器的集体效率都是重要的。它们甚至在古生物学中有应用，被称为蛇颈龙的海洋爬行动物利用涡旋相互作用来提高它们的推进效率(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chfG229nLZI).有几个重要的参数决定了涡旋相互作用，包括翼片的几何形状，它们的灵活性，它们的时空布局和运动学的细节。在这个项目中，目标是通过在最先进的设备中进行高保真实验，对上述一些参数的多个振动翼之间的尾迹相互作用建立基本的了解。您将有机会设计新的实验，记录和分析使用先进的流动诊断方法获得的高保真实验数据。您还将能够使用新的数据同化和机器学习工具来优化相邻翼片的涡旋和尾迹相互作用的动力学。这项工作是美国海军研究办公室资助的一个更大项目的一部分，你将加入一个让学生对类似问题进行数值模拟的小组。这将允许与其他从事类似项目的人进行互动，并提供一个激发智力的环境。这个项目的结果预计将发表在该领域的顶级期刊上，这位博士生将获得参加几个国际会议的资金。

The vortex and wake interactions of multiple oscillating foils is critically important in various applications. In biology, these range from propulsive ability and maneuverability of individual insects or animals to optimal group behavior in collective flying/swimming. In Engineering, these interactions are important for performance of traditional aerospace systems, formation flight/swimming of autonomous systems and collective efficiency of flapping energy harvesters. These even have applications in paleontology where marine-reptiles called plesiosaurs used vortex interactions to improve their propulsive efficiency (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chfG229nLZI). There are several important parameters that dictate vortex interactions including the geometry of the foils, their flexibility, their spatio-temporal layout and details of the kinematics. In this project, the goal is to develop fundamental understanding of wake interactions between multiple oscillating foils for some of the above-mentioned parameters by performing high-fidelity experiments in state-of-the-art facilities. You will have the opportunity to design new experiments, record and analyze high-fidelity experimental data acquired using advanced flow diagnostic methods. You will also be able to use new data assimilation and machine-learning tools to optimize the dynamics of vortex and wake interactions of adjacent foils. This work is part of a larger project funded by US Office of Naval Research and you will be part of a group that has students carrying out numerical simulations of similar problems. This will enable interactions with others working on similar projects and provide an intellectually stimulating environment. The results of this project are expected to be published in the field's top journals and the PhD student will have the funding to attend several international conferences.