Soft Fluidic Couple Oscillators

Coupled oscillators are a classical problem in physics, where it is well known that efficient transfer of energy occurs between interacting systems. Here we numerically study the dynamics of a fluidic coupled oscillator composed of two interacting free-surface water waves separated by a soft, compliant membrane. We vary the system control parameters, namely the membranes' stiffness and the water depth of the two wave chambers, to observe different regimes of coupling between the interacting wave tanks. We model the compliant membrane dynamics using an unsteady Young-Laplace type equation with a deformation dependent membrane tension, and an added-mass coupling between the oscillating wave modes.