Related papers: Optimal propulsive flapping in Stokes flows
Manipulation of small-scale particles across streamlines is the elementary task of microfluidic devices. Many such devices operate at very low Reynolds numbers and deflect particles using arrays of obstacles, but a systematic quantification…
In a fluid environment, flagellated microswimmers propel themselves by rotating their flagella. The morphology of these flagella significantly influences forward speed, swimming efficiency, and directional stability, which are critical for…
This paper investigates stability analysis of flapping flight. Due to time-varying aerodynamic forces, such systems do not display fixed points of equilibrium. The problem is therefore approached via a limit cycle analysis based on Floquet…
Turbulent channel flow controlled by spanwise wall oscillations is studied using direct numerical simulations to improve how spanwise forcing reduces skin-friction drag. Harmonic wall oscillations generate a periodic transverse Stokes layer…
We study the role of unsteady lift in the context of flapping wings in birds' flight. Both aerodynamicists and biologists attempt to address this subject, yet it seems that the contribution of the unsteady lift still holds many open…
Minimising the energy consumption associated with periodic motion is a priority common to a wide range of technologies and organisms - among them, many species of flying insect, for which flapping-wing flight is a life-essential mode of…
We formulate a method for computing Stokes flow past a highly deformed sphere with arbitrarily defined surface velocity. The fundamental ingredient is an explicit extrapolation operator extending a velocity field from the surface of a…
Small-scale locomotion plays an important role in biology. Different modelling approaches have been proposed in the past. The simplest model is an infinite inextensible two-dimensional waving sheet, {originally introduced by Taylor}, which…
Many swimming and flying animals are observed to cruise in a narrow range of Strouhal numbers, where the Strouhal number ${St = 2fA/U}$ is a dimensionless parameter that relates stroke frequency $f$, amplitude $A$, and forward speed $U$.…
Analytical expressions for the velocity field and the effective slip length of pressure-driven Stokes flow through slippery pipes and annuli with rotationally symmetrical longitudinal slits are derived. Specifically, the developed models…
The relation between the shape of the force driving a turbulent flow and the upper bound on the dimensionless dissipation factor $\beta$ is presented. We are interested in non-trivial (more than two wave numbers) forcing functions in a…
Ribbons are long narrow strips possessing three distinct material length scales (thickness, width, and length) which allow them to produce unique shapes unobtainable by wires or filaments. For example when a ribbon has half a twist and is…
The deformations of flagella are important in the motility of single- and multi-flagellated bacteria. Existing numerical methods have treated flagella as extensible filaments with a large extensional modulus, resulting in a stiff numerical…
A body immersed in a highly viscous fluid can locomote by drawing in and expelling fluid through pores at its surface. We consider this mechanism of jet propulsion without inertia in the case of spheroidal bodies, and derive both the…
Wing flapping is one of the most widespread propulsion methods found in nature; however, the current understanding of the aerodynamics in bird wakes is incomplete. The role of the unsteady motion in the flow and its contribution to the…
A theory is presented for wave-driven propulsion of floating bodies driven into oscillation at the fluid interface. By coupling the equations of motion of the body to a quasi-potential flow model of the fluid, we derive expressions for the…
An axisymmetric squirmer in a Bingham viscoplastic fluid is studied numerically to determine the effect of a yield stress environment on locomotion. The nonlinearity of the governing equations necessitates numerical methods, which is…
Wall-resolved large-eddy simulations are performed to study the impact of spanwise traveling transversal surface waves in zero-pressure gradient turbulent boundary layer flow. Eighty variations of wavelength, period, and amplitude of the…
Airborne insects generate a leading edge vortex when they flap their wings. This coherent vortex is a low pressure region that enhances the lift of flapping wings compared to fixed wings. Insect wings are thin membranes strengthened by a…
The dynamics of geometrically non-linear flexible filaments play an important role in a host of biological processes, from flagella-driven cell transport to the polymeric structure of complex fluids. Such problems have historically been…