Abstract: Solid–liquid separation is widely used in daily life and practical engineering. Traditional industrial filters are prone to clogging, but this rarely occurs in filter-feeding organisms. Inspired by the filter feeding mechanism of balaenid whales and considering the local grooves in the fringes layer, a new bionic filter is produced by 3D printing technology through the bionic design of the parallel channels inside the mouth of balaenid whales. At the same time, a test platform composed of the bionic filter, peristaltic pump, fluid pulse rectifier and water tank is built to carry out the fluid flow pattern dyeing and particle filtration experiments. It is found that fluid separation occurs near the groove structure and local vortices are generated. The vortex control filtration mechanism makes the particles in the front grooves tend to accumulate on the left side, which has a certain anti-clogging effect. Moreover, the increase of flow velocity leads to the enhancement of vortices, which makes the accumulation effect on the left more obvious. This study initially practices the bionic application from biological model to engineering design, and the vortex control anti-clogging filtration mechanism proposed in the study has a wide range of application prospects and values.

Key words: Solid–liquid separation , · Balaenid whales , · Filter feeding , · Bionic design , · Anti-clogging filtration mechanism