Alexander J. Smitsis member of the National Academy of Engineering, fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, honorary fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society, fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the author (with J.P. Dussauge) of “Turbulent Shear Layers in Compressible Flow,” Springer-Verlag (2nd edition, 2005), author of “A Physical Introduction to Fluid Mechanics,” John Wiley & Sons. (2000), and editor (with T.T. Lim) of “Flow Visualization: Techniques and Examples,” Imperial College Press (2nd edition, 2011), as well as the author or co-author of more than 450 journal articles and papers in conference proceedings. He holds patents on testing the aerodynamics of golf balls, and on using femtosecond lasers in eye surgery and tattoo removal. His awards include the IUT AM Batchelor Prize in Fluid Mechanics (2020), the APS Fluid Dynamics Prize (2019), the AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology Award (2014), an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from University of Melbourne in Australia (2011), the Médaille de la Ville de Marseille (2009), the ASME Fluids Engineering Award (2007), the AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award (2007), the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching from Princeton University (2007), and the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Award (2004). He was the Chair of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of APS (2007-2008), and the Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal (2015-2021).
Fast and efficient underwater propulsion inspired by biology
Abstract: Biology offers a rich source of inspiration for the design of novel propulsors with the potential to overcome and surpass the performance of traditional propulsors for the next generation of underwater vehicles. To- date, however, we have not achieved the deeper understanding of the biological systems required to engineer propulsors with the high speed and efficiency of animals like sailfish, tuna, or dolphins. What is the underlying physics of the fluid-structure interaction of bio-propulsors that results in the superior performance observed in nature? Moreover, how do we replicate this performance in the next generation of man-made propulsors? Can we push beyond the limits of biology? By studying the performance of simple heaving and pitching foils, we have identified the basic scaling that describes the thrust, power and efficiency, under continuous as well as burst-coast actuation. These scaling relationships allow us to identify the natural limits on simple bio-inspired propulsors, and suggest that further improvements in performance will require adaptive flexibility and optimized profiles.
18 février 2021, 16h3017h30
Webinar (please contact F. Romano for the link)
