Energy boost from vortices: bull trout

1 of 2 Von Kármán Vortices over Aleutian Islands, Alaska / U.S. Geologi.. / License

Bodies of fish decrease energy required for locomotion by using vortices.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Move or stay put >
	Move >
	In/on liquids

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Wind turbines that work using eddies around large buildings or other large structures Ocean energy devices that use eddies to generate energy

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Researchers are studying how fish use surrounding vortices to provide an energy boost. Vortices can come from other fish or stationary objects. Conventional wind turbines need a steady wind, so use of eddies would require a new design. Vortices in water alternately spin clockwise and counter-clockwise. Similarly, a wind turbine that uses eddies caused by buildings would need to be able to adjust to varying angles. Dabiri has developed prototypes for both air and water. While they may produce less energy than a wind turbine, they can work over a longer period so the net energy produced per year should be similar." (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)

"Aquatic animals swimming in isolation and in groups are known to extract energy from the vortices in environmental flows, significantly reducing muscle activity required for locomotion. A model for the vortex dynamics associated with this phenomenon is developed, showing that the energy extraction mechanism can be described by simple criteria governing the kinematics of the vortices relative to the body in the flow. In this way, we need not make direct appeal to the fluid dynamics, which can be more difficult to evaluate than the kinematics. Examples of these principles as exhibited in swimming fish and existing energy conversion devices are described. A benefit of the developed framework is that the potentially infinite-dimensional parameter space of the fluid–structure interaction is reduced to a maximum of eight combinations of three parameters. The model may potentially aid in the design and evaluation of unsteady aero- and hydrodynamic energy conversion systems that surpass the Betz efficiency limit of steady fluid dynamic energy conversion systems." (Dabiri 2007:L1)

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"Fishes moving through turbulent flows or in formation are regularly exposed to vortices. Although animals living in fluid environments commonly capture energy from vortices, experimental data on the hydrodynamics and neural control of interactions between fish and vortices are lacking. We used quantitative flow visualization and electromyography to show that trout will adopt a novel mode of locomotion to slalom in between experimentally generated vortices by activating only their anterior axial muscles. Reduced muscle activity during vortex exploitation compared with the activity of fishes engaged in undulatory swimming suggests a decrease in the cost of locomotion and provides a mechanism to understand the patterns of fish distributions in schools and riverine environments." (Liao et al. 2003:1566)

Note: Studies were on trout, not specifically bull trout.

About the inspiring organism

Bull trout
Salvelinus confluentus (Suckley, 1859)
[Bull trout]

Some organism data provided by: FishBase
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Wind turbines that work using eddies around large buildings or other large structures. Ocean energy devices that use eddies to generate energy.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Construction, energy

FLOWE wind farm design - Wind farm spatial design

Vortex Generator - Water treatment systems

Experts

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Noel Michele Holbrook George V. Lauder
Harvard University

Biological Propulsion Laboratory
John Dabiri
Caltech (California Institute of Technology)

References

Dabiri, J. O. 2007. Renewable fluid dynamic energy derived from aquatic animal locomotion. BIOINSPIRATION AND BIOMIMETICS. 2(3): 1.

Liao, J. C.; Beal, D. N.; Lauder, G. V.; Triantafyllou, M. S. 2003. Fish Exploiting Vortices Decrease Muscle Activity. Science. 302(5650): 1566.

Whittlesey RW; Liska S; Dabiri JO. 2010. Fish schooling as a basis for vertical axis wind turbine farm design. BioInspiration and Biomimetics. 5(3):

Energy boost from vortices: bull trout

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