Hydrostatic and Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Swimming Animals- an Inspiration for Hybrid Buoyant Aircraft

In today’s world, the biological sciences are mostly considered separate from the existing modern knowledge of various other fields of sciences and engineering; however there are many properties of nature and known facts of biological sciences that can be proved in the other domains of science and technology as well. Correlation of the geometric and buoyant properties of the swimming animals with the hybrid buoyant air vehicles is an example of this hypothesis. In the present work, some experiments related to the geometric parameters of a California sea lion were carried out. It was found that the fineness ratio of this animal is of the same order as the optimum value of that for the condition of minimum drag and power required for buoyant aerial vehicle. Role of multiple fins on the elongated bodies of shark is also discussed for its application for yaw stability as well as to shroud the antennas that are used in the aircraft for various communication systems.

[1]  Carl G. Meyer,et al.  Unexpected Positive Buoyancy in Deep Sea Sharks, Hexanchus griseus, and a Echinorhinus cookei , 2015, PloS one.

[2]  Waqar Asrar,et al.  Stability and Takeoff Ground Roll Issues of Hybrid Buoyant Aircraft , 2014 .

[3]  Paul W. Webb,et al.  SWIMMING KINEMATICS OF SHARKS , 1982 .

[4]  J. Harris,et al.  The Role Of The Fins In The Equilibrium Of The Swimming Fish: II. The Role Of The Pelvic Fins , 1938 .

[5]  Antonio Dumas,et al.  MAAT – Promising innovative design and green propulsive concept for future airship's transport , 2014 .

[6]  D E Alexander,et al.  Drag Coefficients of Swimming Animals: Effects of Using Different Reference Areas. , 1990, The Biological bulletin.

[7]  E. Standen,et al.  Pelvic fin locomotor function in fishes: three-dimensional kinematics in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) , 2008, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[8]  P. Webb,et al.  Control of Posture, Depth, and Swimming Trajectories of Fishes1 , 2002, Integrative and comparative biology.

[9]  F. Fish.  Influence of Hydrodynamic Design and Propulsive Mode on Mammalian Swimming Energetics , 1994 .

[10]  S. D. Feldkamp,et al.  Swimming in the California sea lion: morphometrics, drag and energetics. , 1987, The Journal of experimental biology.

[11]  Olivier Cheneval,et al.  Biomechanics of turning manoeuvres in Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) , 2005 .

[12]  Waqar Asrar,et al.  Cambered profile of a California sea lion's body , 2015, The Journal of Experimental Biology.

[13]  B. Josephson,et al.  "The quarter-wave dipole" , 1957 .

[14]  Joseph R. Jahoda.  JTRS/SINCGARS ultrabroadband airborne blade antenna for subsonic aircraft and helicopters Incorporating key learning from antenna geometry research efforts, a new blade antenna technology provides high performance in a reduced form factor well suited for software-defi ned radio in aviation applicati , 2006 .

[15]  Anabela Maia,et al.  Function of dorsal fins in bamboo shark during steady swimming. , 2013, Zoology.