Thrust force assessment of a MFC-actuated tail-like robotic fish using Unsteady Panel Method

Fish-like robots are used in various fields, such as environmental monitoring and underwater exploration. These devices are designed to emulate the motion of a real fish. They can have flexible bodies to mimic body/caudal-based locomotion patterns or fins to mimic median/paired fin-based locomotion patterns. Standard propulsion methods include oscillating fins, flapping tails, and body undulations. This work investigates a robotic fish with a flexible tail actuated by a Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) pair in a bi-morph configuration. This device is designed to mimic body/caudal-based locomotion patterns; therefore, it should present propulsion capabilities due to its body undulations. These propulsion capabilities are assessed using the Unsteady Panel Method for different sinusoidal inputs. This method requires the device’s kinematics, which is derived using an analytical model based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, considering the electro-mechanical coupling of the actuators. The mean thrust force derived using the Unsteady Panel Method is compared with the actual mean thrust acquired during an experimental campaign. The experimental and numerical results indicated that higher thrust forces can be achieved when the device is excited in its second resonance frequency. These results are in line with Lighthill’s findings.