Undulatory swimming in viscoelastic fluids
Fluid Dynamics
2015-05-27 v2 Biological Physics
Abstract
The effects of fluid elasticity on the swimming behavior of the nematode \emph{Caenorhabditis elegans} are experimentally investigated by tracking the nematode's motion and measuring the corresponding velocity fields. We find that fluid elasticity hinders self-propulsion. Compared to Newtonian solutions, fluid elasticity leads to 35% slower propulsion speed. Furthermore, self-propulsion decreases as elastic stresses grow in magnitude in the fluid. This decrease in self-propulsion in viscoelastic fluids is related to the stretching of flexible molecules near hyperbolic points in the flow.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1102.3894,
title = {Undulatory swimming in viscoelastic fluids},
author = {Xiaoning Shen and P. E. Arratia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1102.3894},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures