Flexive and Propulsive Dynamics of Elastica at Low Reynolds Numbers
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-10-30 v1 q-bio
Abstract
A stiff one-armed swimmer in glycerine goes nowhere, but if its arm is elastic, exerting a restorative torque proportional to local curvature, the swimmer can go on its way. Considering this happy consequence and the principles of elasticity, we study a hyperdiffusion equation for the shape of the elastica in viscous flow, find solutions for impulsive or oscillatory forcing, and elucidate relevant aspects of propulsion. These results have application in a variety of physical and biological contexts, from dynamic biopolymer bending experiments to instabilities of elastic filaments.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9707346,
title = {Flexive and Propulsive Dynamics of Elastica at Low Reynolds Numbers},
author = {Chris H. Wiggins and Raymond E. Goldstein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9707346},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 eps figs, RevTeX, submitted to PRL