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Published August 7, 2005 | public
Journal Article

The role of optimal vortex formation in biological fluid transport

Abstract

Animal phyla that require macro-scale fluid transport for functioning have repeatedly and often independently converged on the use of jet flows. During flow initiation these jets form fluid vortex rings, which facilitate mass transfer by stationary pumps (e.g. cardiac chambers) and momentum transfer by mobile systems (e.g. jet-propelled swimmers). Previous research has shown that vortex rings generated in the laboratory can be optimized for efficiency or thrust, based on the jet length-to-diameter ratio (L/D), with peak performance occurring at 3.5

Additional Information

© 2005 The Royal Society. Received 21 January 2005. Accepted 19 March 2005. Published online 21 June 2005. We thank I. K. Bartol for kindly providing access to the Lolliguncula data used in this work. This research is supported by National Science Foundation grant 0309671.

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023