Wake symmetry impacts the performance of tandem hydrofoils during in-phase and out-of-phase oscillations differently.

The hydrodynamics of two oscillating foils in side-by-side configuration is numerically investigated for in-phase and out-of-phase pitching at Reynolds number of 4000 and Strouhal numbers of St=0.25-0.5. The effects of phase difference (in-phase and out-of-phase) and Strouhal number on symmetric attributes of the wake and unsteady propulsive performance of the foils are studied in detail. At lower Strouhal numbers, there is a quasisteady performance in both thrust generation and power consumption, which coincides with persistence of the wake symmetry. As Strouhal number increases, however, in-phase and out-of-phase pitching display unsteady cycle-averaged behavior with very different wake characteristics. The asymmetric wake of in-phase pitching foils at high Strouhal numbers transitions to a quasisymmetric wake, when an extensive interaction between the two vortex streets is observed in the wake. This coincides with an improvement on the propulsive performance of the foils. In contrast, the symmetric wake of the out-of-phase pitching foils at a high Strouhal number transitions to an asymmetric wake. The adverse effect of this transition is only observed on the propulsive performance of one foil while the other exploits the wake towards a better performance. The collective performance of the the out-of-phase pitching system, however, remains unchanged. There is also a strong correlation between the wake symmetric characteristics and total nonzero side-force production.