Numerical study of human dolphin swimming

Propulsion at human dolphin swimming is gained by performing an undulatory motion through the hole body. This movement is similar to undulatory fish motion. Special physical properties like stiffness of upper and lower extremity parts are creating significant unsteady vortex structures around the hole swimmer when performing dolphin kick. The characteristic of these structures and their influence at propulsion are not very well investigated yet. The present paper discribes the creation of a realistic model using data scans of a female swimmer. It is updated with her unique dolphin motion to simulated complete swim motion. (© 2011 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)