Design and Evaluation of Bio-inspired Deployable Flying Fish Pectoral Fins

Abstract

The flying fish is able to both glide in the air and swim in the water, using the various fins on its body to enable locomotion. The pectoral fins specifically are the primary lifting surfaces used in flight and are used for underwater maneuvering. The flying fish’s ability to navigate in two media makes it an interesting case to study for multimedia locomotion research, which is useful in the design of unmanned aerial-aquatic vehicles (UAAV). Research on the flying fish's kinematics and dynamics is limited. The Princeton Bioinspired Adaptive Morphology Lab (BAMLab) has developed a flying fish robotic model organism (RMO) designed for experimental bio-inspired research of the locomotion of flying fish. This paper furthers the work done on the BAMLab's flying fish RMO by redesigning the RMO's existing flying fish pectoral fin so that it can be deployed 90 degrees and stowed at various speeds. Multiple prototypes were made before the final design was completed; the final design utilizes SLA 3D-printing grey resin, a worm gear motor, carbon fiber, platinum silicone, and clear vinyl. An experiment was created to evaluate the design for hydrodynamic performance in a water channel. This experiment determined the drag, lift, and pitching moment coefficients as functions of angle of attack ranging from 15 degrees to 35 degrees.