Work

Heavy Flags Undergo Spontaneous Oscillations in Flowing Water

Year: 2005

Type: article

Abstract: By immersing a compliant yet self-supporting sheet into flowing water, we study a heavy, streamlined, and elastic body interacting with a fluid. We find that above a critical flow velocity a sheet aligned with the flow begins to flap with a Strouhal frequency consistent with animal locomotion. This transition is subcritical. Our results agree qualitatively with a simple fluid dynamical model that predicts linear instability at a critical flow speed. Both experiment and theory emphasize the importance of body inertia in overcoming the stabilizing effects of finite rigidity and fluid drag.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.94.094302

Authors: Michael Shelley, Nicolas Vandenberghe, Jun Zhang

Institutions: Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Équilibre

Language: English

Topic: Fluid Dynamics and Vibration Analysis

Subfield: Computational Mechanics

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2041301661

FWCI: 9.07

Cites: 27

Cited by: 226

Related to: 10