Choose the internal transverse force so that the net internal transverse force on a slice is . Its linear momentum balance is then
The coordinate labels body slices, so their lateral material acceleration is ; the fluid transport operator must not be substituted for this body acceleration.
Let be the total internal bending moment, including both passive elastic and active muscular contributions. With the compatible moment orientation, the net couple on the slice is . The cross-sectional rotary inertia is smaller than the translational inertia by the square of the transverse-to-longitudinal length ratio, and is neglected in this slender-beam approximation. Slice angular momentum balance therefore gives . Eliminating from the slice linear momentum balance proves
This equation is the balance law for an active bending beam for a swimming fish; a constitutive relation for the passive bending moment or the muscle actuation is not needed to derive it. With the force-on-body convention established above it becomes
As a check, constant and rigid lateral acceleration give the effective inertia . Combining the printed positive force in part (i) with the minus sign in the beam equation would instead give . That is the same sign defect, rather than a negative hydrodynamic added mass. If the positive quantity in part (i) is called as a force on the fluid, the beam equation must contain .