Hydrodynamic effects of alligator tail osteoderms and curvature

For this project I took the responsibly of being team lead. Our team first began by designing our experimental arrangements. We decided to utilize a water tunnel in the basement of the Advanced Technology Research Center at Oklahoma State University for our tests. For our test conditions, we chose to make 4 models. A test condition matrix is shown to the left. We planned on making two curved models and two straight models. For both pairs, there was to be a tail with and without osteoderms. The tails would be pulled by a towing tank and the velocity would be varied while the wake signature is captured with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Next we began prototyping. My team studied the morphology of alligator tails. A length, width, and height scale was set using ImageJ software and pictures of real alligators with known lengths. After the geometric scale was set, we worked on the dynamic scale. We studied the Reynolds number range that alligators operate in by using a paper by Frank E. Fish [1]. It was found that an acceptable Reynolds number range for alligators is 6.1 * 10^4 to 4.5 *10^5 . Using the equation in figure 2, we were able to select a model length and a test speed for our model to accurately match the realistic Reynolds range. Our model was 60 centimeter long and to be tested at speeds of 0.2 m/s, 0.4 m/s, and 0.6 m/s.