A three-sphere microswimmer in a structured fluid
Soft Condensed Matter
2018-08-30 v2
Abstract
We discuss the locomotion of a three-sphere microswimmer in a viscoelastic structured fluid characterized by typical length and time scales. We derive a general expression to link the average swimming velocity to the sphere mobilities. In this relationship, a viscous contribution exists when the time-reversal symmetry is broken, whereas an elastic contribution is present when the structural symmetry of the microswimmer is broken. As an example of a structured fluid, we consider a polymer gel, which is described by a "two-fluid" model. We demonstrate in detail that the competition between the swimmer size and the polymer mesh size gives rise to the rich dynamics of a three-sphere microswimmer.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1805.08348,
title = {A three-sphere microswimmer in a structured fluid},
author = {Kento Yasuda and Ryuichi Okamoto and Shigeyuki Komura},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.08348},
year = {2018}
}