J0205-3-6 Development of a Simulation Method for Monofin Swimming

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a simulation method for monofin swimming which can consider the mechanical interaction between the monofin and swimmer. For this objective, SWUM (Swimming Human Simulation Model) was extended to the monofin swimming. The body geometry and joint motion of the swimmer were aquired from the experiment using a subject swimmer. In order to identify the bending stiffness and damping coefficient of the monofin, the static and dynamic bending tests of a monofin were conducted. In order to identify the fluid force coefficients of the monofin, the fluid force acting on the monofin was measured in the experiment. From the simulation of monofin swimming using the identified model parameters, it was found that the whole behavior of the swimmer and monofin in the simulation agrees well with that in the experiment.