Vortex and wake interactions in flapping foils

The vortex and wake interactions of multiple oscillating foils is critically important in various applications. In biology, these range from propulsive ability and maneuverability of individual insects or animals to optimal group behavior in collective flying/swimming. In Engineering, these interactions are important for performance of traditional aerospace systems, formation flight/swimming of autonomous systems and collective efficiency of flapping energy harvesters. These even have applications in paleontology where marine-reptiles called plesiosaurs used vortex interactions to improve their propulsive efficiency (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chfG229nLZI).

There are several important parameters that dictate vortex interactions including the geometry of the foils, their flexibility, their spatio-temporal layout and details of the kinematics. In this project, the goal is to develop fundamental understanding of wake interactions between multiple oscillating foils for some of the above-mentioned parameters by performing high-fidelity experiments in state-of-the-art facilities. You will have the opportunity to design new experiments, record and analyze high-fidelity experimental data acquired using advanced flow diagnostic methods. You will also be able to use new data assimilation and machine-learning tools to optimize the dynamics of vortex and wake interactions of adjacent foils.

This work is part of a larger project funded by US Office of Naval Research and you will be part of a group that has students carrying out numerical simulations of similar problems. This will enable interactions with others working on similar projects and provide an intellectually stimulating environment.

The results of this project are expected to be published in the field's top journals and the PhD student will have the funding to attend several international conferences.