Sustainable Energy Harvesting using Flapping Foils and Beyond

Help design the next generation of clean energy technologies by turning the motion of water into usable power. Students might sketch and 3D-print scale models of turbines or wave-driven devices, then test them in our water flume or wave tank, as well as in the lakes and rivers. You’ll learn how to set up experiments with flow sensors and force gauges, analyze data on energy output and efficiency, and compare different designs. These projects combine hands-on engineering, coding for data collection, and teamwork, which is perfect for students who want to connect renewable energy concepts with mechanical design and real experiments. 

Selected publications:

• Y. Su, M. Miller, S. Mandre, & K. Breuer (2019) Confinement effects on energy harvesting by a heaving and pitching hydrofoil. Journal of Fluids and Structures, Vol. 84, Pages 233-242, 2019.

• Y. Su, & K. Breuer (2019) Resonant response and optimal energy harvesting of an elastically mounted pitching and heaving hydrofoil. Physical Review Fluids, Vol. 4, 064701, 2019.

• B. Ribeiro, Y. Su, Q. Guillaumin, K. Breuer, & J. Frank (2021) Wake-foil Interactions and Energy Harvesting Efficiency in Tandem Oscillating Foils. Physical Review Fluids, 6, 074703.

Marine Animal Locomotion & Bio-inspired Robotics

Investigate how fish, jellyfish, and other marine animals achieve efficient propulsion—and apply those principles to build robotic swimmers. Students may use particle image velocimetry (PIV) to visualize flow patterns, reconstruct animal kinematics from videos, or design flexible fins and bodies to test in tanks and in the fields (e.g., lakes). The goal is to understand how vortices, fin interactions, and body flexibility affect thrust, maneuverability, and energy use, then translate those findings into robotic devices that replicate and extend nature’s solutions. These projects are great for students excited about combining mechanics, robotics, and biology in hands-on, cutting-edge research. 

Selected publications: 

• Y. Su*, X. Fan*, K. Onoue, H. Vejdani, K. Breuer. An improved paradigm for modeling animal flights at moderate Reynolds numbers, in press, Annals of New York Academy of Science

• Y. Su, M. Jovchevska, N. Xu Biodegradable Tracer Particles for Underwater Particle Image Velocimetry. Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, 074905 (2025)

• S. Santos, N. Tack, Y. Su, F. Cuenca-Jimenez, P. Gomez-Valdez, M. Wilhelmus (2023) Pleobot: a modular robotic solution for metachronal swimming, Scientific Reports, 13:9574.

• M. Di Luca, S. Mintchev, Y. Su, E. Shaw, & K. Breuer (2020) A bio-inspired Separated Flow wing provides turbulence resilience and aerodynamic efficiency for miniature drones. Science Robotics, Vol. 5, Issue 38, eaay8533, 2020.

Biogenic Mixing, Diel Vertical Migration, and Fluid Transport

Explore how the movements of aquatic organisms—from tiny zooplankton to schools of fish—stir and transport water. In nature, zooplankton rise and sink daily in a process called diel vertical migration (DVM), and these collective motions can mix dissolved oxygen and nutrients, and shape ecosystem health. Students might run lab experiments in stratified tanks, analyze high-speed videos of swimming behavior, or use computer models to study how swimming interacts with turbulence, as well as go to field trips (R/V Blue Heron) to collect data for aquatic animal migration. These projects highlight the surprising power of biology to influence physics, and offer insights into both fluid mechanics and the functioning of lakes and oceans.

Selected publications and presentations:

• Y. Su, M. Wilhelmus, R. Zenit (2023) Asymmetry of motion: vortex rings crossing a density gradient, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 960, R1.

• Y. Su, E. Meiburg, D. Taniguchi, D. Carroll, T. Kostadinov, M. Wilhelmus, Diel Vertical Migrations of Mesozooplankton: Asymmetry in Swimming and Mixing, NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop, College Park, MD, May 2023

• Y. Su, R. Weinbaum, T. Kostadinov, E. Meiburg, D. Carroll, D. Taniguchi, M. Wilhelmus (2022) Diel Vertical Migration of Mesozooplankton: Large Mixing by Small Animals? 75th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, Indianapolis, IN, Nov. 2022.