Details study on the kinematic characteristics of manta ray section in flapping motion and exploring its application in wave glider propulsion system

• Published in: Sustainable energy technologies and assessments Vol. 53; p. 102710
• Main Authors: Abbaspour, Madjid, Safari, Hadi, Darbandi, Masoud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Computational fluid dynamics; Flapping motion; Manta ray; Power consumption; Propulsive performance; Vorticity; Wake structure; Wave energy converter; Wave glider propulsion; Propulsive performance; Power consumption; Computational fluid dynamics; Vorticity; Flapping motion; Wave energy converter; Wave glider propulsion; Wake structure; Manta ray
• ISSN: 2213-1388
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seta.2022.102710

It has always been a human challenge to inspire natural configurations and phenomena and benefit from their merits in improving the performances of man-made proposed aero/hydro vehicles. For example, the manta rays are known for their great swimming performances. To design and fabricate an underwater robot based on the manta ray geometry and its kinematic characteristics, it is important to initially study its hydrodynamic behavior and possibly arrive at some key design parameters, which can remarkably help to figure out an optimum geometry with high swimming performances. The main objective of this study is to focus on the merits of gliding motion inspired by the manta ray fish considering the real sea conditions. In this regard, two wave-glider configurations with specific submersible geometries are selected to practice the bases of this objective. They are the manta-glider, which has a complicated 3D configuration representing the real manta ray swimming behavior, and the wing-glider, which has much simpler configuration constructing from a flat and uniform wing span shape. The 3D unsteady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are numerically solved to simulate the gliding motion performances of these two gliders. The results show that the maximum efficiency of manta-glider model is ηmax = 50 %, which is much higher than that of the wing-glider with ηmax = 36 %, within an operational range with a relatively constant significant wave height (SWH). Alternatively, the wing-glider efficiency is about 5 % higher than that of the manta-glider in cases with non-constant SWH values. Irrespective of their efficiencies, the interesting outcome of this study is that the manta-glider model shows fewer fluctuations and performs more stable conditions than a simplified glider model in energy-absorbing applications. Considering the achieved outcomes, this work also suggests a simple guideline, which is so beneficial to arrive at a suitable wave glider propulsion design.