Abstract
This paper deals with an experimental study of development and performance evaluation of the aquatic propulsion mechanism using waving-motion of flexible fin. The waving-motion of the flexible fin is excited by a cam and follower mechanism. In the experiment, the propulsion force and the swimming speed of the aquatic propulsion mechanism are examined for various wave number and exciting frequency of the waving motion in stationary water in a channel. As a result, it is found that the RMS propulsion force and RMS swimming speed of the aquatic propulsion mechanism become small with increasing the wave number of the motion.
