Related papers: Directed migration of microscale swimmers by an ar…
We study the fluid dynamics of two fish-like bodies with synchronised swimming patterns. Our studies are based on two-dimensional simulations of viscous incompressible flows. We distinguish between motion patterns that are externally…
We study the fluid drift due to a time-dependent dumbbell model of a microswimmer. The model captures important aspects of real microswimmers such as a time-dependent flagellar motion and a no-slip body. The model consists of a rigid sphere…
Recent microfluidic experiments have explored the precise positioning of micron-sized particles in liquid environments via laser-induced thermoviscous flow. From micro-robotics to biology at the subcellular scale, this versatile technique…
Biofilms are spatially organized microorganism colonies embedded in a self-produced matrix, conferring to the microbial community resistance to environmental stresses. Motile bacteria have been observed swimming in the matrix of pathogenic…
Biological and artificial microswimmers often self-propel in external flows of vortical nature; relevant examples include algae in small-scale ocean eddies, spermatozoa in uterine peristaltic flows and bacteria in microfluidic devices. A…
We theoretically study the self-propulsion of a thin (slender) colloid driven by asymmetric chemical reactions on its surface at vanishing Reynolds number. Using the method of matched asymptotic expansions, we obtain the colloid…
In the absence of inertia, a reciprocal swimmer achieves no net motion in a viscous Newtonian fluid. Here, we investigate the ability of a reciprocally actuated particle to translate through a complex fluid that possesses a network using…
We employ three numerical methods to explore the motion of low Reynolds number swimmers, modeling the hydrodynamic interactions by means of the Oseen tensor approximation, lattice Boltzmann simulations and multiparticle collision dynamics.…
The effect of shape asymmetry of microswimmers on their adsorption capacity at confining channel walls is studied by a simple dumbbell model. For a shape polarity of a forward-swimming cone, like the stroke-averaged shape of a sperm,…
Microswimmers typically move near walls, which can strongly influence their motion. However, direct experimental measurements of swimmer-wall separation remain elusive to date. Here, we determine this separation for model catalytic…
Microorganisms often encounter anisotropy, for example in mucus and biofilms. We study how anisotropy and elasticity of the ambient fluid affects the speed of a swimming microorganism with a prescribed stroke. Motivated by recent…
A popular method to induce synthetic propulsion at the microscale is to use the forces created by surface-produced gas bubbles inside the asymmetric body of a catalytic swimmer (referred to in the literature as microrocket). Gas bubbles…
Fiber suspensions flowing in structured media are encountered in many biological and industrial systems. Interactions between fibers and the transporting flow as well as fiber contact with obstacles can lead to complex dynamics. In this…
Navigation in turbulent environments is a fundamental challenge for biological and artificial microswimmers. While most existing studies focus on adapting motility or steering, the role of active morphological changes in navigation remains…
Transport properties of particles in confining geometries show very specific characteristics as lateral drift, oscillatory movement between lateral walls or the deformation of flexible fibers. These dynamics result from viscous friction…
Parallel assemblies of slender structures forming brushes are common in our daily life from sweepers to pastry brushes and paintbrushes. This type of porous objects can easily trap liquid in their interstices when removed from a liquid…
In the absence of environmental cues, a migrating cell performs an isotropic random motion. Recently, the breaking of this isotropy has been observed when cells move in the presence of asymmetric adhesive patterns. However, up to now the…
This study proposes the topology optimization method for moving rigid bodies subjected to forces from fluid flow, such as sails and turbines, with an unsteady time-dependent formulation. Unlike existing topology optimization frameworks in…
In this paper we apply topology optimization to micro-structured superhydrophobic surfaces for the first time. It has been experimentally observed that a droplet suspended on a brush of micrometric posts shows a high static contact angle…
Interactions between microorganisms and their complex flowing environments are essential in many biological systems. We develop a model for microswimmer dynamics in non-Newtonian Poiseuille flows. We predict that swimmers in…