Nature-Inspired Inventions · Volume 020
Humpback Whales
Tubercles for Hydrofoil and Propeller Design
The humpback whale is one of the largest animals on Earth, often 12 to 16 metres long and weighing tens of tonnes. Yet it is surprisingly agile. Humpbacks feed by swimming in tight circles beneath schools of fish, blowing curtains of bubbles to trap them, then lunging up through the trapped prey. To turn tightly, they rely on their enormous flippers — the longest of any whale, up to about a third of their body length.
- Price
- $6.99
- Format
- PDF ebook
- Length
- 29 pages
- Edition
- First Edition
Checkout opens soon. Download the free sample in the meantime.
Or get all 20 volumes for $59 on the series page.
Inside this volume
- Introduction: Bumps That Help a Giant Turn
- Humpback Whales and Agile Feeding
- The Humpback Flipper
- How Tubercles Change the Flow
- Research and Applications
- Translating Tubercles Into Engineering
- Designing Tubercle Geometry
- Manufacturing and Integration
- Ten Humpback-Inspired Design Concepts
- Testing Tubercle Designs
- Failure Modes and Limitations
- Approval, Intellectual Property and Market
- Design Workbook
- Case Study — A More Forgiving Small-Boat Rudder
Plus appendices of formulas and rules of thumb, common reader questions, a glossary and further reading.
