A Continuous Dynamic Beam

Model For Swimming Fish

Author(s): J.-Y. Cheng, T. J. Pedley and J. D. Altringham

Presented By: Rohan More Guide: Prof. Vivek Natarajan

Roll No: 213230013
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Outline
• Overview
• Free beam model for swimming fish
• Strain in body
• Viscoelastic assumption
• Non-Dimensionalization
• Estimation of Visco-elastic coefficients
• Free oscillation of the fish body segment in air
• Bending moment distribution
• Conclusion

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Overview
• Developed a continuous dynamic beam model for swimming Fish.
• Studied its Muscle activation patterns
• Analyzed the distribution of Bending moment on the basis of continuous
beam model
• Our model is based on Saithe fish which is Carangiform swimmer
• 3-D waving plate theory is used to calculated unsteady fluid forces.

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Free Beam model for swimming fish
• In our model, we treat the fish as a free
beam undergoing small amplitude bending
oscillations.
• The lateral bending is caused by the muscle
contractile force, but it is also influenced by
inertial, viscous and elastic forces
• (1)
• Here we do not consider dorsoventral
deformation, so .
Figure 1. Coordinate system for swimming
fish. (a) Schematic side view of fish.
(b) Schematic dorsal view of fish and an
arbitrary longitudinal segment of the body.

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The forces and moments acting on this segment

and are normally small compared with others or a fish

which varies slowly along its length

Figure 2. Forces and moments

acting on a longitudinal volume
element (hatched) of a fish
body.

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Strain in the Body
• Now we consider the strain in the body produced
by pure bending.
• It is assumed that there is a neutral curve,
corresponding to the median surface of the body,
i.e. the backbone, whose length does not change.

Figure 3. An infinitesimal longitudinal

segment of a fish body: (a) geometry before
bending; (b) geometry after bending; (c)
stress state after bending. (d) Sketch relating
dh, ds, dx and 0.
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Viscoelastic assumptions
• It is the property of material that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics
when undergoing deformation
• Viscous material resist shear flow and strain
• Viscoelastic assumption is made for passive behavior of inertial tissue, skin and
Backbone.
• The stiffest materials in the fish are likely to be bone or calcified cartilage.

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• The bending moment due to muscle contraction, and the elasticity and viscosity
of' the tissues.

• here and are the bending moments due to passive elasticity and viscosity, resp.

• The bending moments caused by the elasticity and viscosity at any position along
the x-axis are thus

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Substituting above equations in eq. (8) we get

On substituting above equation (15) in eq. (5) we get,

where and are the contributions to the bending moment from the hydrodynamic
and inertial forces, respectively, then we have

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• Looking at a typical cross-section, we see that the
body is composed of different biomaterials. We can
roughly divide the cross-section into three regions.
1. The inner vertebral column region with constants
and .
2. The intermediate region of muscle and other tissues
with constants and .
3. The outer skin region with constants and .
• The two integrals can then be replaced by two
summations,
•

Figure 4. Cross-section of fish

body, divided into three regions:
1, backbone; 2, muscle and other
tissues; and 3, skin.
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Non-Dimensionalization
• Dimensionless approach typically generalizes the problem. For fluid mechanics
point of view solution of dimensional form is the solution of particular problem.
• Dimensionless solution depends on a set of dimensionless parameters. Using one
dimensionless solution one can describe many dimensional solution.
1. To simplify the equation by reducing the number of variables used.
2. To analyze system behavior regardless of the unit used to measure variable.
• It is convenient to reformulate the relevant equations in terms of complex
variables.

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Using the dimensionless variables we get

And

where may be called the complex viscoelastic modulus, and the corresponding
bending modulus.

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Estimation of Visco-elastic coefficients
• To use the present dynamic model we need to know quantitatively the
mechanical properties of all biomaterials within the fish body.
• For modelling the three divisions are not subdivided further but assumed some
average properties for each.

Region 1 0
Region 2 10 10
Region 3 10

Table 1. Viscous and elastic coefficients used in calculations

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Free oscillation of the fish body segment in air
The response of the model is governed by equation (17) without either the muscle
force term or the hydrodynamic force

For a short segment, the coefficients and may be taken as constant, so we have

Employing the method of superposition of normal modes, we take

Substituting into (25) yields

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By setting the characteristic determinant equal to zero,

we obtain the frequency equation for the body segment

If system is overdamped then

If we take then above inequality is satisfied only if

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Distribution of passive effects along the body

Figure 5. The ratio of the viscous and elastic bending moduli of each region to the total bending modulus of
the whole cross section against distance along the body

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 Bending Moment Distribution

Figure 6. Individual amplitude of Figure 7. Individual amplitude of

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Conclusion
• During bending of the body, in the trunk the passive internal tissues show
overdamping behavior dominated by the myotomal muscle.
• The fluid reaction needs a bending moment with increasing amplitude towards
the tail and near standing wave behavior on the rear-half of the body.
• The fluid reaction reduce the contribution required from muscle on the rear part
of the body.
• The stiff backbone may play a role in transmitting force and deformation to
maintain and adjust the movement of the body and tail in the water.
• Higher active stress is required from caudal muscle.
• The present model is limited by its basic assumptions.
• Our estimates of tissue elastic moduli are very uncertain

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