Hydrobionic Principles of Drag Reduction

Features of organism's systems and their interaction in a course of motion of aquatic animals, which reduces the power consumption, are the subject of investigation. The principles of operation of the hydrobionts, the morphological and physiological features of the skeleton, muscles, skin integuments, circulatory system and innervation of dolphins are considered with allowance made for the influence of the environment on the organism. It is studied how the velocity of swimming, the non-stationarity of the flow, the non-traditional mode of creation of the traction and the specific structure of a body influence the organism's systems. A temperature on the surface of a body, distribution of the elasticity, damping properties of the skin and characteristics of the turbulent boundary layer are measured at various modes of motion of a dolphin. The operation of the organism's systems and the mechanisms of control of the mechanical properties of a skin, which depend on the velocity of swimming, are considered. The hydrodynamic simulation of the organism's systems is performed. The experimental results for some models of the organism's systems of the hydrobionts are presented.