Abstract:
The subject of biomimetics looks for inspiration from biological systems to develop innovative, even revolutionary, engineering solutions. For marine science, biomimetics is particularly attractive, as evolution began in the oceans. Animals are found in various strange marine environments, from tropical coral reefs to biting polar ice waters, sunny blue seas, and dark abysses. As a result, different aquatic animals have acquired fantastic survival skills, helping them to overcome various survival challenges. On the contrary, our man-made vehicles still face problems, such as large drag force and limited maneuverability. In this talk, I will learn from amazing creatures such as sea turtles, bluefin tuna, puffins, etc. Then I will discuss the history and current status of bio-inspired research for marine engineering and "peek" into the future of marine technology.
Biography:
Dixia Fan obtained his Ph.D. (2019) and MSc (2016) from MIT Mechanical Engineering and BSc (2013) from Shanghai Jiaotong University Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering. He is currently an assistant professor at Westlake University, a research scientist at MIT Sea Grant. He founded the MIT “lab of pink coach” in 2019, featuring the world's first intelligent towing tank (ITT) and is in charge of the i4-FSI lab at Queen's University (intelligent, informational, integrative, and interdisciplinary fluid-structure interaction). His research interests focus on physics-informed (and -informative) machine learning and bio-inspired design of vortical flow control and sensing for marine and aerospace applications.
Seminar by the NYU-ECNU Institute of Physics at NYU Shanghai