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Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement

Publication ,  Journal Article
Alex Shorter, K; Murray, MM; Johnson, M; Moore, M; Howle, LE
Published in: Marine Mammal Science
January 1, 2014

Bio-logging tags are widely used to study the behavior and movements of marine mammals with the tacit assumption of little impact to the animal. However, tags on fast-swimming animals generate substantial hydrodynamic forces potentially affecting behavior and energetics adversely, or promoting early removal of the tag. In this work, hydrodynamic loading of three novel tag housing designs are compared over a range of swimming speeds using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Results from CFD simulation were verified using tag models in a water flume with close agreement. Drag forces were reduced by minimizing geometric disruptions to the flow around the housing, while lift forces were reduced by minimizing the frontal cross-sectional area of the housing and holding the tag close to the attachment surface. Hydrodynamic tag design resulted in an experimentally measured 60% drag force reduction in 5.6 m/s flow. For all housing designs, off-axis flow increased the magnitude of the force on the tag. Experimental work with a common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) cadaver indicates that the suction cups used to attach the types of tags described here provide sufficient attachment force to resist failure to predicted forces at swimming speeds of up to 10 m/s. © 2013 The Authors. Marine Mammal Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Marine Mammalogy.

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Published In

Marine Mammal Science

DOI

EISSN

1748-7692

ISSN

0824-0469

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

30

Issue

2

Start / End Page

726 / 746

Related Subject Headings

  • Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0608 Zoology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology
 

Citation

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Alex Shorter, K., Murray, M. M., Johnson, M., Moore, M., & Howle, L. E. (2014). Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement. Marine Mammal Science, 30(2), 726–746. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12083
Alex Shorter, K., M. M. Murray, M. Johnson, M. Moore, and L. E. Howle. “Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement.” Marine Mammal Science 30, no. 2 (January 1, 2014): 726–46. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12083.
Alex Shorter K, Murray MM, Johnson M, Moore M, Howle LE. Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement. Marine Mammal Science. 2014 Jan 1;30(2):726–46.
Alex Shorter, K., et al. “Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement.” Marine Mammal Science, vol. 30, no. 2, Jan. 2014, pp. 726–46. Scopus, doi:10.1111/mms.12083.
Alex Shorter K, Murray MM, Johnson M, Moore M, Howle LE. Drag of suction cup tags on swimming animals: Modeling and measurement. Marine Mammal Science. 2014 Jan 1;30(2):726–746.
Journal cover image

Published In

Marine Mammal Science

DOI

EISSN

1748-7692

ISSN

0824-0469

Publication Date

January 1, 2014

Volume

30

Issue

2

Start / End Page

726 / 746

Related Subject Headings

  • Marine Biology & Hydrobiology
  • 4102 Ecological applications
  • 3109 Zoology
  • 3103 Ecology
  • 0608 Zoology
  • 0603 Evolutionary Biology
  • 0602 Ecology