Abstract
The observed gait of a swimmer arises from the interplay of internal force generation, the passive elastic properties of its body, and environmental features such as fluid viscosity, boundaries, and obstacles. One could question whether optimal swimming of a fish occurs when it is actuated at a frequency near a natural frequency determined by its material bending rigidity. We will share some insights that we have gained using computational models of a few
systems that range from the Stokes regime to others where inertial forces are important.
Bio
Lisa J. Fauci is the Pendergraft Nola Lee Haynes Professor of Mathematics at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. Her research focuses on biological fluid dynamics, with an emphasis on computational modeling. She is a fellow of APS and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and is currently the President of SIAM (2019-2020).
Hosts: Professors Mattia Gazzola & Aimy Wissa