Abstract
A Navier-Stokes code based on a unstructured finite volume method is used to simulate the MIT flapping foil experiment. A low Reynolds number $k-{\varepsilon}$ turbulence model is used to close the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Computations are carried out for a domain involving two flapping foils and a downstream hydrofoil. The computational domain is meshed with unstructured quadrilateral elements, partly structured. Numerical solutions show good agreement with experiment. Unsteadiness inside boundary layer is entrained when a unsteady vortex impinge on the blade surface. It shoves that local peak value inside the boundary layer and also local minimum near the edge of boundary layer as it developes along the blade surface. The unsteadiness inside the boundary layer is almost isolated from the free stream unsteadiness and being convected at local boundary layer speed, less than the free stream value.