Meeting Abstract

7.2  Thursday, Jan. 3  How to Generate Thrust the Pufferfish Way: A CFD Analysis WIKTOROWICZ CONROY, Alexis M.*; GORDON, Malcolm S.; Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Univ. of California, Los Angeles plexypoo@ucla.edu

Porcupine pufferfish (Diodon holocanthus) are tropical, rigid-bodied median and paired fin (MPF) swimmers. The insignificant levels of recoil measured during locomotion is likely the result of morphological features and complex fin coordination. We used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to create a thrust generation model of D. holocanthus. This model will ultimately lead to an understanding of how morphology and fin beat coordination affect the swimming stability of D. holocanthus.