A Volumetric Imaging System for Reconstruction of Macroscopic Fluid Flows in Organismic Biology

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to Harvard University under the direction of Dr. George Lauder for the acquisition of a volumetric imaging system for the three-dimensional reconstruction of macroscopic fluid flows in organismic biology. The instrumentation will be shared among three cooperating institutions (Harvard, Brown University, and the University of Rhode Island) to: (1) analyze air flow patterns resulting from wing and body movements of flying bats and birds, (2) study water flow patterns in the wake of swimming fishes, (3) analyze water flow patterns during prey capture by small sharks, (4) study air flow over leaves and flowers of plants, and (5) measure unsteady pressure or shear-driven flows adjacent to flexible boundaries. The study of air and water flow patterns resulting from animal locomotion and prey capture is a major endeavor in the field of biomechanics. As animals capture prey and move through air and water, they generate complex three-dimensional patterns of fluid movement that reflect the application of force to the environment. Understanding these patterns of fluid movement is critical to uncovering the fluid dynamic mechanisms that govern flight, swimming, and the capture of prey by organisms living in fluids. Similarly, understanding the process of wind pollination in plants and the movement of air over leaves is dependent on quantification of air flow and measurement of air velocities around complex three-dimensional plant structures. The instrumentation will benefit directly numerous graduate students currently in the laboratories of the major and minor user faculty by providing them with the latest technology for the study of biological fluid mechanics. Three of the major users teach advanced undergraduate research project classes in biomechanics (at two different institutions), and undergraduates doing projects in the area of biological fluid mechanics will have the opportunity to use this equipment as they participate in laboratory research projects.