Enhanced motility of a microswimmer in rigid and elastic confinement
Soft Condensed Matter
2015-06-15 v2 Biological Physics
Abstract
We analyse the effect of confining rigid and elastic boundaries on the motility of a model dipolar microswimmer. Flexible boundaries are deformed by the velocity field of the swimmer in such a way that the motility of both extensile and contractile swimmers is enhanced. The magnitude of the increase in swimming velocity is controlled by the ratio of the swimmer-advection and elastic timescales, and the dipole moment of the swimmer. We explain our results by considering swimming between inclined rigid boundaries.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1303.7325,
title = {Enhanced motility of a microswimmer in rigid and elastic confinement},
author = {Rodrigo Ledesma-Aguilar and Julia M. Yeomans},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1303.7325},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures. Physical Review Letters - accepted