Numerical Simulation and Experimental Investigation on Wing Disc Variable Speed Motion of a Biomimetic Propulsion Device

A kind of biomimetic propulsion unit was proposed based on the mechanism of swimming stroke of jellyfish.In order to achieve biomimetic propulsion of large stroke reciprocating motion,the unit adopts slider-crank mechanism to drive serial mechanism of scissor-like element and the biomimetic foils.Based on the numerical analysis and the features of biomimetic propulsion,test about displacement and propulsion of the foil moving in water was carried out,by using beeline displacement sensor and pull/pressure sensor.Taking iuto account the velocity change when foil moving,software FLUENT was applied to get the numerical simulation of wing disc propulsion with different opening angles.The comparison between simulation output and test results indicates that the simulation result is basically agreement with the test value,and the maximum propulsion of wing disc is obtained when the foil opening angle is 160°.So this biomimetic method is preliminarily validated.