In recent years, there has been a growing trend among researchers to seek inspiration from nature to design engineering systems that incorporate flexible structures. Nature’s flyers and swimmers—such as fish, birds, and insects—exhibit highly efficient mechanisms for manoeuvring through environments dominated by vortices, often leveraging flexibility to enhance propulsion. To that end, studying vortex-dominated flows is pivotal to understanding the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics of both natural and engineered systems. Investigating the ideal equilibrium between flexibility and structural integrity is key to improving the efficacy of bio-inspired designs. Exploring flexible materials and structures that can adjust to changing flow conditions is at the forefront of current research. The knowledge acquired from examining vortex-dominated flows around bio-inspired structures finds applications across diverse sectors, including aerospace, marine engineering, and renewable energy. Insights from the locomotion of birds and fish, for instance, can be utilized to enhance the efficiency of drones and underwater vehicles and can also serve as inspiration for the development of novel energy harvesting devices.

The aim of the colloquium is to assess the current state of the art and to identify pressing unresolved questions that warrant exploration in the immediate future. By fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange, we aim to catalyze significant advancements in the challenging field of bioinspired fluid-structure interaction.

Topics:

Characterization of vortex-dominated flows

Fundamentals of fluid-structure interaction

Flow control of separated wakes

Flapping flight

Swimming

Collective effects

Flow energy harvesting

Data driven modelling