title: [The optimality principle in undulatory swimming].
abstract: A comparative analysis of the experimental records of bending waves for various organisms (flagella, fish, dolphin) was performed. To explain the sphenoid shape of a bending wave, a new dynamic principle of optimal organization of wave drivers, the principle of focal optimality, was formulated and substantiated. According to this principle, each region of the body oscillates relative to the top of a wedge "focus" with a shift by about a phase quarter, thus providing a maximum contribution to the total driving force.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Smolianinov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004289:Dolphins; D005399:Fishes; D005407:Flagella; D008124:Locomotion; D008954:Models, Biological; D013045:Species Specificity; D013550:Swimming