Related papers: Minimum Dissipation Theorem for Microswimmers

Analytical models describing the motion of colloidal particles in given velocity fields are presented. In addition to local approaches, leading to well known master equations such as the Langevin and the Fokker-Planck equations, a global…

An approximation to the added mass matrix of an assembly of spheres is constructed on the basis of potential flow theory for situations where one sphere is much larger than the others. In the approximation the flow potential near a small…

We use boundary element simulations to study the interaction of model microswimmers with a neutrally buoyant spherical particle. The ratio of the size of the particle to that of the swimmer is varied from $R^\mathrm{P} / R^\mathrm{S} \ll…

Optimal gait design is important for micro-organisms and micro-robots that propel themselves in a fluid environment in the absence of external force or torque. The simplest models of shape changes are those that comprise a series of…

We determine the globally minimum time $T$ needed to translate a thin submerged flat plate a given distance parallel to its surface within a work budget. The Reynolds number for the flow is assumed to be large so that the drag on the plate…

We discuss the path of a tracer particle as a microswimmer moves past on an infinite straight trajectory. If the tracer is sufficiently far from the path of the swimmer it moves in a closed loop. As the initial distance between the tracer…

Recent research has shown that motile cells can adapt their mode of propulsion depending on the environment in which they find themselves. One mode is swimming by blebbing or other shape changes, and in this paper we analyze a class of…

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…

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…

E. M. Purcell showed that a body has to perform non-reciprocal motion in order to propel itself in a highly viscous environment. The swimmer with one degree of freedom is bound to do reciprocal motion, whereby the center of mass of the…

The connection between swimming and control theory is attracting increasing attention in the recent literature. Starting from an idea of Alberto Bressan [7] we study the system of a planar body whose position and shape are described by a…

The controllability of a fully three-dimensional $N$-link swimmer is studied. After deriving the equations of motion in a low Reynolds number fluid by means of Resistive Force Theory, the controllability of the minimal $2$-link swimmer is…

Due to the kinematic reversibility of Stokes flow, a body executing a reciprocal motion (a motion in which the sequence of body configurations remains identical under time reversal) cannot propel itself in a viscous fluid in the limit of…

Bead-based micro-swimmers are promising systems for payload delivery on the micro-scale. However, the principles underlying their optimal design are not yet fully understood. Here we study a simple device consisting of three…

Extreme dissipation events in turbulent flows are rare, but they can be orders of magnitude stronger than the mean dissipation rate. Despite its importance in many small-scale physical processes, there is presently no accurate theory or…

Active matter exhibits various forms of non-equilibrium states in the absence of external forcing, including macroscopic steady-state currents. Such states are often too complex to be modelled from first principles and our understanding of…

Microswimmers are exposed in nature to crowded environments and their transport properties depend in a subtle way on the interaction with obstacles. Here, we investigate a model for a single ideal circle swimmer exploring a two-dimensional…

We develop a general theory for describing phase coexistence between nonequilibrium steady states in Brownian systems, based on power functional theory (M. Schmidt and J.M. Brader, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 214101 (2013)). We apply the framework…

We study the optimal performance of Carnot-like heat engines working in low dissipation regime using the product of the efficiency and the power output, also known as the efficient power, as our objective function. Efficient power function…

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…