Related papers: A basic swimmer at low Reynolds number
A conformation space kinetic model is constructed to drive the deformation cycle of a three-sphere swimmer to achieve propulsion at low Reynolds number. We analyze the effect of an external load on the performance of this kinetic swimmer,…
Resistance functions for two spherical particles with the Navier slip boundary condition in general linear flows, including rigid translation, rigid rotation, and strain, at low Reynolds number are derived by the method of reflections as…
We investigate the behavior of a treadmilling microswimmer in a two-dimensional unbounded domain with a semi-infinite no-slip wall. The wall can also be regarded as a probe or pipette inserted into the flow. We solve the governing evolution…
Purcell's scallop theorem defines the type of motions of a solid body - reciprocal motions - which cannot propel the body in a viscous fluid with zero Reynolds number. For example, the flapping of a wing is reciprocal and, as was recently…
The dynamics and deformations of immersed flexible fibers are at the heart of important industrial and biological processes, induce peculiar mechanical and transport properties in the fluids that contain them, and are the basis for novel…
A single flexible filament can be actuated to escape from the scallop theorem and generate net propulsion at low Reynolds number. In this work, we study the dynamics of a simple boundary-driven multi-filament swimmer, a two-arm clamshell…
We discuss a locomotion of a three-sphere microswimmer in a viscoelastic medium and propose a new type of active microrheology. We derive a relation which connects average swimming velocity and frequency-dependent viscosity of the…
Hydrodynamic interactions are crucial for determining the cooperative behavior of microswimmers at low Reynolds numbers. Here we provide a comprehensive analysis of the scaling and strength of the interactions in the case of a pair of…
The lift and drag forces acting on a small spherical particle moving with a finite slip in single-wall-bounded flows are investigated via direct numerical simulations. The effect of slip velocity on the particle force is analysed as a…
Using the observation that slip in simple fluids at low and moderate shear rates is a thermally activated process driven by the shear stress in the fluid close to the solid boundary, we develop a molecular-kinetic model for simple fluid…
We report on a series of fully resolved simulations of the flow around a rigid sphere translating steadily near a wall, either in a fluid at rest or in the presence of a uniform shear. Non-rotating and freely rotating spheres subject to a…
The oscillatory flow around a spherical object lying on a rough bottom is investigated by means of direct numerical simulations of continuity and Navier-Stokes equations. The rough bottom is simulated by a layer/multiple layers of spherical…
Swimming cells often have to self-propel through fluids displaying non-Newtonian rheology. While past theoretical work seems to indicate that stresses arising from complex fluids should systematically hinder low-Reynolds number locomotion,…
We study a generalized Navier-Stokes model describing the thin-film flows in non-dilute suspensions of ATP-driven microtubules or swimming bacteria that are enclosed by a moving ring-shaped container. Considering Stokes' second problem,…
Electroosmotic pumping of fluid through a nanopore that traverses an insulating membrane is considered. The density of surface charge on the membrane is assumed uniform, and sufficiently low for the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to be…
The biological fluids encountered by self-propelled cells display complex microstructures and rheology. We consider here the general problem of low-Reynolds number locomotion in a complex fluid. {Building on classical work on the transport…
An elementary analytical fluid flow is composed by a geometric domain, a list of analytical constraints and by the function which depends on the physical properties, as Reynolds number, of the considered fluid. For this object, notions of…
We use numerical simulations to address locomotion at zero Reynolds number in viscoelastic (Giesekus) fluids. The swimmers are assumed to be spherical, to self-propel using tangential surface deformation, and the computations are…
We investigate the incompressible flow past a square cylinder immersed in the wake of an upstream nearby splitter plate separating two streams of different velocity. The bottom stream Reynolds number, based on the square side, $Re_B=56$ is…
The precise description of the motion of anisotropic particles in a flow rests on the understanding of the force and torque acting on them. Here, we study experimentally small, very elongated particles settling in a fluid at small Reynolds…