Bio-inspired Fluid Dynamic Energy Conversion

该项目旨在开发和演示新的实验和分析方法，将生物灵感整合到小型流体动力能量转换系统的设计中。以前对自然气动力和流体动力能量转换的研究依赖于简化的流体物理工程模型，这些模型的有效性仅限于空间和时间复杂性低于自然界中观察到的流动。因此，相关的设计方法在可实现的流体动力能量转换的效率和多功能性方面表现出固有的局限性。通过提取动物成功操纵流体-结构相互作用的基础物理学，我们将拥有必要的工具来开发工程技术，当能量存储而不是运动是功能目标时，这些技术也可以同样有效。该项目的目标是扩展PI在确定向流体动力能量转换的机制方面的先前进展，以解决从天然空气动力和流体动力能源中提取能量的问题。智力价值：拟议的研究将解决通过与固体结构的多尺度相互作用来控制流体能量操纵的物理学。此外，该项目中展示的科学方法可以将迅速增长的“生物启发工程”实践从一种定性艺术转变为一种严格的定量工程工具。合并后的框架将增强我们在分析和改进现有基于流体的能源系统中应用流体力学原理的能力，并优化纳入流体传输的新能源技术的设计。在这个过程中，将确定在生物和环境流体-结构相互作用过程中支配能量的非稳定(时间相关)传输和转换的物理原理。这里要检验的具体假设是，通过操纵第一个涡量矩，可以从入射涡旋中提取动能。这一假说和相关的研究问题将通过结合独特的、多尺度的实验室实验、最近发展的涡旋动力学理论概念以及实验室和野外对自由游泳的水母的定量研究来进行研究。更广泛的影响：将开发一套研究工具，使人们能够将有关水母动力学的知识应用于从心脏病(通过类似的涡旋动力学)到生物传感器技术(通过类似的流体趋化性)等一系列问题。国际海事组织与当地一个海洋教育中心之间现有的合作伙伴关系将促进教育和外联工作。这种关系将被用来为K-12教育的学生提供“亲身实践”的科学入门，以此作为在保护我们的自然资源的同时提高我们的生活质量的一种手段。最后，PI将在一个校园辅导项目中保持领导作用，该项目将向未被充分代表的新生介绍加州理工大学的研究环境。

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.