A numerical study of the propulsive efficiency of a flapping hydrofoil

A computational fluid dynamics study of the swimming efficiency of a two‐dimensional flapping hydrofoil at a Reynolds number of 1100 is presented. The model accounts fully for viscous effects that are particularly important when flow separation occurs. The model uses an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method to track the moving boundaries of oscillatory and flapping bodies. A parametric analysis is presented of the variables that affect the motion of the hydrofoil as it moves through the flow along with flow visualizations in an attempt to quantify and qualify the effect that these variables have on the performance of the hydrofoil. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.