Related papers: Viscoelastic propulsion of a rotating dumbbell
Using a two-fluid model for viscoelastic polymer solutions, we study analytically fluid transport driven by a transverse, small amplitude traveling wave propagation. The pumping flow far from the waving boundary is shown to be strongly wave…
We study the stretching of an elastic dumbbell in a turbulent flow, with the aim of understanding and quantifying the effect of hydrodynamic interactions (HI) between the beads of the dumbbell. Adopting the Batchelor-Kraichnan model for the…
Understanding the hydrodynamics of microswimmers in viscoelastic fluids and confined environments is crucial for interpreting their behaviour in natural settings and designing synthetic microswimmers for practical applications like cargo…
Polymers in shear flow are ubiquitous and we study their motion in a viscoelastic fluid under shear. Employing dumbbells as representative, we find that the center of mass motion follows: $\langle x^2_c(t) \rangle \sim \dot{\gamma}^2…
The dynamics of a Lamb-Oseen vortex dipole in a viscoelastic fluid are investigated, with emphasis on asymmetry, coupling strength, and transverse shear waves relevant to strongly coupled dusty plasmas. Dusty plasmas provide a natural…
Low Reynolds number swimmers frequently move near boundaries, such as spirochetes moving through porous tissues and sperm navigating the reproductive tract. Furthermore, these microorganisms must often navigate non-Newtonian fluids such as…
In this work, we numerically investigate the dynamics of a self-propelling autophoretic Janus particle in a weakly viscoelastic fluid. The self-propulsion is achieved by an asymmetry in the properties of the surface of the Janus particle…
Traditional locomotion strategies become ineffective at low Reynolds numbers, where viscous forces predominate over inertial forces. To adapt, microorganisms have evolved specialized structures like cilia and flagella for efficient…
The development of multifunctional and biocompatible microrobots for biomedical applications relies on achieving locomotion through viscous fluids. Here, we describe a framework for swimming in homogeneous magnetoelastic membranes composed…
By synergistically combining modeling, simulation and experiments, we show that there exists a regime of self-propulsion in which the inertia in the fluid dynamics can be separated from that of the swimmer. This is demonstrated by the…
We analyze a minimal model for a rigid spherical microswimmer and explore the consequences of its extended surface on the interplay between its self-propulsion and flow properties. The model is the first order representation of…
The electroosmotic flow of non-Newtonian fluids in deformable microchannels is fundamentally important in the understanding of the hydrodynamics in physiological flows. The performance of these microchannels is governed by the load bearing…
A polymer in a turbulent flow undergoes the coil-stretch transition when the Weissenberg number, i.e. the product of the Lyapunov exponent of the flow and the relaxation time of the polymer, surpasses a critical value. The effect of…
Self-propulsion at low Reynolds number is notoriously restricted, a concept that is commonly known as the "scallop theorem". Here we present a truly self-propelled swimmer (force- and torque- free) that, while unable to swim in a Newtonian…
This study examines the flow of dense granular materials under external shear stress and pressure using discrete element method simulations. In this method, the material is allowed to strain along all periodic directions and adapt its solid…
We present numerical studies for finitely extensible nonlinear elastic (FENE) dumbbells which are dispersed in a turbulent plane shear flow at moderate Reynolds number. The polymer ensemble is described on the mesoscopic level by a set of…
The small scale statistics of homogeneous isotropic turbulence of dilute polymer solutions is investigated by means of direct numerical simulations of a simplified viscoelastic fluid model. It is found that polymers only partially suppress…
Microscale propulsion is integral to numerous biomedical systems, for example biofilm formation and human reproduction, where the surrounding fluids comprise suspensions of polymers. These polymers endow the fluid with non-Newtonian…
We study the dynamical properties of a two-dimensional ensemble of self-propelled dumbbells with only repulsive interactions. After summarizing the behavior of the translational and rotational mean-square displacements in the homogeneous…
Many cells exploit the bending or rotation of flagellar filaments in order to self-propel in viscous fluids. While appropriate theoretical modelling is available to capture flagella locomotion in simple, Newtonian fluids, formidable…