Effect of metachronal phasing on the pumping efficiency of oscillating plate arrays

A programmable oscillating plate array was constructed in order to study the detailed hydrodynamics of external pumping by a series of oscillating plates at Reynolds numbers on the order of 10. The array was modeled after the geometry and kinematics found in the nymphal mayfly (Ephemeroptera) Centroptilum triangulifer, and consisted of five plates, each of which could be actuated independently for stroke and pitch. Scaled tests were performed at a Reynolds number, Re = fL _g ² /ν = 18, with a single stroke kinematic pattern modeled after the living animal. In mayflies, and in many other oscillating plate systems, an antiplectic metachronal wave is used with a phase delay of approximately 90°, which corresponds to a travelling wave that moves from posterior to anterior with a wavelength of approximately four plates. In order to better understand possible reasons for why the animal system might favor the observed phase lag, ensemble-correlation stereo PIV measurements were made to reconstruct the unsteady three-dimensional phase averaged flow field at a resolution that allowed a uniform and converged estimate of the net pumped flux and the total energy dissipation within and around the vicinity of the gill array. The results indicate that the baseline case offered an optimal spot in the mass flux of fluid pumped through the array per unit energy expended, while also providing a great deal of flexibility in modifying the stroke amplitude without interference effects from adjacent gills.