Our Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) research program focuses on the development of theoretical and computational infrastructures for modeling complex solid-fluid interactions in fishlike locomotion. Fish and cetaceans move in water with great agility and efficiency through rhythmic shape changes which generate unsteady flow around the animal's body (typically vortical flow past the body). It is widely believed, but not fully understood, that fish exploit the unsteadiness in the flow to their advantage hence achieving impressive hydrodynamic efficiencies. This research program will study the dynamic coupling between the animal shape changes and the surrounding . Our approach is to combine the classical theory of fluid dynamics with ideas from geometric mechanics, dynamical systems, control theory and computation to build reduced models of the solid-fluid motion that make the underlying principles of locomotion more transparent. These reduced models will be used to analyze the stability of motion of both individual and schools of fish interacting with vorticity - thus explaining the role of vorticity in aquatic locomotion and fish schooling. These models will also be used to devise strategies for control and motion planning, more specifically, to investigate optimum shape deformations for a desired locomotion. In addition to our direct contribution to modeling and control of solid-fluid interactions in aquatic locomotion, our efforts will provide valuable insights into a number of important problems such as insect and birdlike locomotion and will enable novel engineering applications such as the design of biologically-inspired vehicles that propel themselves by undulating their shape. Our educational efforts will focus on creating an integrated education and research environment and on building a bridge between engineering and mathematics. Indeed, involvement of undergraduate and graduate students (including women and minorities) and dissemination of our research results in journals, conferences, as well as in the classroom will be an integral part of this research effort.
