Huertas-Cerdeira Cecilia, Gharib Morteza
Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jul 24;14(1):17000. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-67798-w.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) will see increased use in scientific research, military operations and maintenance of industrial infrastructure. Many of these applications require that the vehicle possess a long range while retaining precise maneuvering or station-keeping capabilities. Both current UUVs and biological swimmers, often considered the basis for the next generation of UUVs, face a trade-off between the two characteristics. Here, we introduce a novel hybrid propeller concept that enables thunniform-inspired vehicles, which imitate nature's most efficient swimmers, to also achieve high maneuverability. The propeller can produce enhanced three-dimensional kinematics of the caudal fin. An optimization procedure based on real-time experimental data is used to obtain the best kinematics to maneuver the vehicle, and a 4-step strategy is uncovered that results in a 49% increase in maneuverability with respect to conventional 2-D kinematics. The proposed mechanism is shown to be effective for a wide range of fin geometries and stiffness values.
无人水下航行器（UUV）在科学研究、军事行动和工业基础设施维护中的应用将会增加。这些应用中的许多都要求航行器具备远程航行能力，同时还要保持精确的机动或定点保持能力。当前的无人水下航行器以及常被视为下一代无人水下航行器基础的生物游泳者，在这两种特性之间都面临着权衡。在此，我们引入了一种新颖的混合螺旋桨概念，该概念使受鲔鱼游动方式启发的航行器（模仿自然界中最高效的游泳者）也能实现高机动性。这种螺旋桨能够产生增强的尾鳍三维运动学效果。基于实时实验数据的优化程序被用于获取使航行器机动的最佳运动学效果，并且发现了一种四步策略，相对于传统的二维运动学，该策略使机动性提高了49%。所提出的机制对于广泛的鳍几何形状和刚度值都显示出有效性。
