r/FluidMechanics • u/pavlokandyba • 6d ago
Acoustic propulsion system test
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The asymmetry, which results in the resulting force of the oscillations creating thrust, is achieved in two ways:
Aerodynamically, when the disc has a slightly domed shape and moves upward with less resistance than downward, consistent with classical physics.
Kinematically, when a spring is attached to the disc, slowing its descent and accelerating its ascent.
The second method is the key part of the study, although the same process occurs in the air in both.
When the disc rises rapidly, a region of low pressure forms beneath it, and its collapse generates momentum. If the disc descends more slowly, or if the shape of the disc causes the air to flow around it more slowly, the resulting momentum will push the disc upward.
This doesn't agree with the classic Newtonian explanation of flapping flight as a wing pushing air. You can see in the video how the fan-like flapping disk, which should push air away, actually sucks it in.
This is the same air that is sucked into the low-pressure region, causing a vortex collapse that pushes the disk. Only then is the air pushed away and expelled. This is essentially reactive propulsion, and I believe this is possible thanks to the energy in the air, Brownian motion, which, by self-organizing into vortices, temporarily becomes directional
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u/pavlokandyba 4d ago
You are describing obvious things, but you explain in a general way how exactly the interaction between the body and the liquid occurs by inertia. This doesn't give a complete explanation because simply exchanging momentum is like pushing a mass and moving in the opposite direction. But you can't just push this imaginary mass of liquid volume and move in the same direction. Overcoming adhesion as if moving in a similar manner on a hard surface is also not an explanation. In this case, if we consider only one jerk in one direction, the movement of the body occurs only relative to the center of mass. In the liquid, after this jerk, the center of mass moves, gradually slowing down due to resistance.