Experimental study on the bionic undulate thruster driven by a hydraulic system

In the paper, a testing prototype of bionic undulate thruster driven by a hydraulic system has been setup, so as to imitate the motion of fish´s undulate fin in MPF (median and/or paired fin) mode. Some experiments have been carried out on the rotating-direction valve and the swing sets of the ribbing respectively, which are parts of the hydraulic system of the bionic undulate thruster. With the experiments, relationship between hydraulic parameters and wave parameters has been brought out. The experiments´ results show that the prototype could imitate a continual and steady undulate motion, and the wave parameters can be adjusted conveniently and rapidly.