At the Xu Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, I designed and constructed an overhead gantry with two translational and four rotational axes to test single and tandem fins in a 2-meter-long water tank. Tests are quantified using a 6-axis force transducer mounted directly on the trailing fin (not shown in these images). A variety of shark-skin-inspired fin surface profiles are being tested to assess their effects on fin drag, thrust, and lift across different motion profiles. Previous studies have explored the impact of shark-inspired structures on drag reduction, free-swimming speeds, and anti-fouling properties, as detailed in my published literature review.
Marshall T Graybill, Nicole W Xu, Experimental Studies of Bioinspired Shark Denticles for Drag Reduction, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 64, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 742-752.
