Hydrodynamic mechanism of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus during turning maneuvers

Aquatic organisms in their natural environment have soft bodies and flexible mobility. Clarifying the generation, evolution, and dissipation of vortices and jets during turning maneuvers is crucial for understanding the propulsion principle of aquatic species, which, in turn, provides guiding value for fish-like propulsion device design. In this study, time-resolved particle image velocimetry is used to explore the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus while turning. The results showed that M. anguillicaudatus maintained the wavy movement of its trunk by bending different body parts. Pressure gradients that are weaker and stronger than the surrounding environment were formed at the peaks and troughs, respectively, resulting in a thrust mechanism dominated by suction. The body fluctuation and relative fluid motion served to form a vortex. The connection of the separation line of the saddle point to the focus in this process creates an unstable flow structure that accelerates vortex dissipation. Jets are formed between the reverse vortices; the thrust jets provide forward power for turning maneuvers, and the side jets provide turning torque. As the jets and tail are situated at angles to one another, only part of the jet-generated kinetic energy provides power for the fish to swim. Additionally, proper orthogonal decomposition is utilized for objectively filtering high-frequency spatial noise in complex fish wake data. The flow field reconstructed via the mode selection of an appropriate order can be used to clearly show the evolution characteristics of large-scale coherent structures.