Comparison of aerodynamic models for two-dimensional pitching foils with experimental data

Abstract

Several semiempirical models for the thrust force and propulsion efficiency of pitching foils have been developed recently to derive simple scaling laws for aquatic locomotion. In this work, we compare two of these models with the theoretical results from linear potential theory and with available experimental data. Overall, the results from the corrected linear potential theory are shown to agree better with most of the available experimental data for small enough amplitudes, while one of the semiempirical models tested performs better for large amplitudes. More experimental data for large reduced frequencies would be desirable to test the different models.