Rotational dynamics of a soft filament: wrapping transition and propulsive forces
Fluid Dynamics
2009-11-13 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
We analyze experimentally the shape of a long elastic filament rotating in a viscous liquid. We identify a continuous but sharp transition from a straight to an helical shape, resulting from the competition between viscous stresses and elastic forces. This induced helicity generates a propulsive force along the axis of rotation. In addition, we show that the shape transition is associated with an unstable branch in the force-torque relation. A linearized model of the fluid-structure interaction is proposed to account for all the features of the non-linear filament dynamics.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0802.1503,
title = {Rotational dynamics of a soft filament: wrapping transition and propulsive forces},
author = {Naïs Coq and Olivia Du Roure and Joel Marthelot and Denis Bartolo and Marc Fermigier},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.1503},
year = {2009}
}