Author(s)

J.G. CERVANTES, F. MÉNDEZ & F.J. SOLORIO

Abstract

An analogy between fish undulatory swimming and the buckling of columns is presented and discussed. The most important aspects of the undulatory swimming of a fish, from the mechanical point of view, are described. The buckling response of solid and fluid columns and its mathematical modelling are summarized and applied to a swimming fish, as an analogue of buckling columns. The predictable Strouhal number for a buckling fish agrees well with the apparently universal experimental value observed by numerous investigators of fish undulatory swimming.

Keywords

buckling of columns, fish undulatory swimming, fluid columns, hydrodynamic foils, solid columns, Strouhal number