Numerical Simulations of Pulsating Soft Corals

Soft corals of the family Xeniidae have a pulsating motion, a behavior not observed in many other sessile organisms. We are studying how this behavior may give these corals a competitive advantage. We will present computational simulations of the pulsations of the coral. Direct numerical simulations of the pulsating corals and the resulting fluid flow by solving the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the immersed boundary method will be discussed. We will explore how the mixing created by the corals is modified as we vary parameters of the fluid flow and the pulsating motion.