Marine creatures that generate thrust via flapping-foil motions, such as sea turtles, inspire the development of novel underwater vehicle propulsion systems. Inspired by the skeletal form and flapping deformation patterns of sea turtle forelimbs, we fabricated a heterogeneous flexible bio-inspired flapping foil using liquid rubber and a flexible metal skeleton. The root bending stiffness of each flapping-foil model is independently regulated by the thickness of embedded metal shims, corresponding to various flexibilities. An experimental platform to replicate sea turtle kinematics and systematically investigate the effects of the flexibility, the pitch amplitudes, the flapping amplitude, and the frequency on the performance is established.
Ding et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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