Flapping with flexible structures is a hallmark of flying and swimming in nature, but achieving biological levels of aero/hydro-performance in bio-inspired robots design has proven elusive. This is due to our lack of understanding of the fundamental physics of the bio-inspired locomotion and experimental and computational difficulties in studying live flying and swimming animals. In this talk, a combined experimental and computational approach will be first introduced. High-speed photogrammetry system and an accurate 3D data reconstruction technique are used together to measure the kinematics of animal body and appendages with extraordinary details. A model reduction tool is developed to extract the dominant kinematical components for analysis and computational modeling. An in-house, Cartesian-grid-based immersed boundary solver is then used to simulate corresponding unsteady flows in all their complexity. Vortex dynamics and aero/hydro-performance of various flying animals such as hummingbird, dragonfly and cicada as well as swimming animals such as trout, jack fish and dolphin will be discussed or showcased in this talk. The discovery of new flow sciences associated with the animal locomotion has brought new insights on the design of next generation bio-inspired robotic systems.

Dr. Haibo Dong is currently an associate professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Virginia. Prior to his position at UVA, Dr. Dong was an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Wright State University. He completed both his bachelor and master degrees in China and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA in United States. After completing his doctorate, he spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher at the George Washington University. His current research involves computational fluid dynamics (CFD), fluid-structure interaction, low speed aero/hydrodynamics, flow visualization, flying and swimming, and biological fluid dynamics in nature. His presentation work is currently supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dong is the recipient of a number of national and society awards in US, including the NSF CAREER award, the AIAA Foundation Abe Zarem Educator award, and the APS/DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion best video award etc.