On the interference of vorticity and pressure fields of a minimal fish school

Abstract

In collective swimming, vorticity and pressure fields near a fish may be modified through hydrodynamic interactions between fish, and eventually influence swimming performance. We developed a three-dimensional (3D) computational approach and implemented a parametric study to: 1) make comparisons of the vorticity and pressure fields topology between a single fish and a pair of fish; 2) investigate the change of vorticity and pressure fields topology by varying the relative position and phase shift between the two fish in a pair; 3) investigate the perceivable pressure signals on the lateral line of fish due to the interference between the two fish. Index Terms-collective swimming, vorticity field, pressure field, computational fluid dynamics, lateral line sensing