進行波を利用した水中推進機構の推力向上のためのチャネルの導入

抄録

A generation method of undulatory motion of an aquatic flexible plate was addressed to improve the efficiency of an aquatic propulsion mechanism by suppression of a reflection wave on a trailing edge. Firstly, non-reflection impedance of a flexible plate was derived by using a matrix-based wave approach, and then control forces for trailing edge of a plate was derived by the impedance. Secondly, obtained non-reflection impedance was translated into the relationship of the displacements between leading edge and trailing edge, to generate a pure traveling wave by four linear actuators. In this paper, in order to improve the thrust, the channel to surround the elastic plate was introduced. Further we conducted PIV measurements to visualize the flow around the flexible plate. Experimental results show that a channel reduces the phase velocity of an aquatic flexible plate. The results indicated that the added mass effect was induced by the channel. Finally the method was applied to an experimental apparatus. The results showed thrust improvement by the channel.