On artificial tail flukes for a bottlenose dolphin

摘要

Artificial tail flukes were designed for a female bottlenose dolphin (tursiops truncatus) that lost most part of the tail flukes due to a serious disease two years ago. The dolphin, named Fuji, has been under human care in Okinawa Churaumi aquarium since 1975. A joint project was started to develop artificial tail flukes so that the dolphin was able to regain her swimming ability. For the design of the tail flukes, laboratory, and field tests as well as finite element method analyses were carried out. The fabricated flukes, composed of a silicon rubber body inserted with a fiber-reinforced plastic plate, were checked by field tests and it was proved that the performance the durability were quite sufficient for most of the dolphin's swimming patterns.