Propulsión acuática bio-inspirada basada en aleteo: revisión y últimos avances

Abstract

The advances in the last years in the field of bio-inspired aquatic  propulsion, have to do without a doubt with the new capabilities  introduced by novel optical measurement techniques for fluids such  as particle image velocimetry and the use of increasingly detailed  and precise numerical simulations. Thanks to these techniques,  progress has been done into ways of implementing engineering  systems based on flapping propulsion, and they have allowed a  better understanding of the physics of the fluid-structure interaction  phenomena. There is a vast amount of open literature describing the swimming  of fish and of canonical systems that simulate animal flapping, and  as a result, the role of kinematics and flexibility in propulsion, the  role of fin shape and how important are three-dimensional effects,  and other aspects such as interference with other wakes, are now  better understood. In this brief review, the intention is to highlight the most important  aspects related to flapping aquatic propulsion and to point out not  intensively, some of the recent most influential works.