Related papers: The Motion Of A Spring Released From Uniform Circu…
We describe experiments and simulations demonstrating the propulsion of a neutrally-buoyant swimmer that consists of a pair of spheres attached by a spring, immersed in a vibrating fluid. The vibration of the fluid induces relative motion…
We analyze the stretching elasticity of a wormlike chain with a tension discontinuity resulting from a Hookean spring connecting its backbone to a fixed point. The elasticity of isolated semiflexible filaments has been the subject in a…
We present an experimental study of the motion of a viscoelastic micellar material around a moving cylinder, which ranges in response from fluid-like flow to solid-like tearing and fracture, depending on the cylinder radius and velocity.…
Fluid-based locomotion at low Reynolds number is subject to the constraints of the scallop theorem, which dictate that body kinematics identical under a time-reversal symmetry (in particular, those with a single degree of freedom) cannot…
The motion of an adiabatic piston under dry friction is investigated to clarify the roles of dry friction in non-equilibrium steady states. We clarify that dry friction can reverse the direction of the piston motion and causes a…
The steady state reached by a system of particles sliding down a fluctuating surface has interesting properties. Particle clusters form and break rapidly, leading to a broad distribution of sizes and large fluctuations. The density-density…
Swimming in circles occurs in a variety of situations at low Reynolds number. Here we propose a simple model for a swimmer that undergoes circular motion, generalising the model of a linear swimmer proposed by Najafi and Golestanian (Phys.…
Numerical simulations in two space dimensions are used to examine the dynamics, transport, and equilibrium behaviors of a neutrally buoyant circular object immersed in an active suspension within a larger closed circular container. The…
Springs can provide force at zero net energy cost by recycling negative mechanical work to benefit motor-driven robots or spring-augmented humans. However, humans have limited force and range of motion, and motors have a limited ability to…
We report an instability of a slider slowly dragged at the surface of a granular bed in a quasistatic regime. The boat-shaped slider sits on the granular medium under its own weight and is free to translate vertically and to rotate around…
What characterises a solid is its way to respond to external stresses. Ordered solids, such crystals, display an elastic regime followed by a plastic one, both well understood microscopically in terms of lattice distortion and dislocations.…
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…
Several scenarios used in teaching feature a rolling motion with slipping that transitions to one without through friction with the ground. We summarise these transitions by introducing an unknown impulse that is transferred to the ground.…
The derivation of a Moving Boundary Approximation or of the response of a coherent structure like a front, vortex or pulse to external forces and noise, is generally valid under two conditions: the existence of a separation of time scales…
We have investigated the drag on a sphere falling through a clay suspension that has a yield stress and exhibits rheological aging. The drag force increases with both speed and the rest time between preparation of the system and the start…
An experimental analysis of the vortex-induced vibrations of a hanging string with variable tension along its length is presented in this paper. It is shown that standing waves develop along the hanging string. The evolution of the Strouhal…
The behavior of a class of solutions of the shallow water Airy system originating from initial data with discontinuous derivatives is considered. Initial data are obtained by splicing together self-similar parabolae with a constant…
Predicting how a deformable body moves and deforms in a viscous flow underlies problems ranging from microorganism locomotion to soft microrobotics, yet existing frameworks are either problem-specific or ill-suited to inverse design. We…
We examine the stability of the "coast" motion of fish, that is to say, the motion of a neutrally buoyant fish at constant speed in a straight line. The forces and moments acting on the fish body are thus perfectly balanced. The fish motion…
Velocity relaxation of an elastic sphere immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid is studied on the basis of the equations of linear elasticity and the linearized Navier-Stokes equations. It is found that both translational motion after a…