Related papers: Reciprocal swimming at intermediate Reynolds numbe…
In isotropic fluids like water, micrometer-scale swimmers have evolved swim strokes to translate despite their tiny size. As described by Purcell in his Scallop Theorem, reciprocal motions, like those performed by a scallop, cannot drive…
We study a generalized Navier-Stokes model describing the thin-film flows in non-dilute suspensions of ATP-driven microtubules or swimming bacteria that are enclosed by a moving ring-shaped container. Considering Stokes' second problem,…
Many microorganisms swim through gels and non-Newtonian fluids in their natural environments. In this paper, we focus on microorganisms which use flagella for propulsion. We address how swimming velocities are affected in nonlinearly…
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 investigate the way in which oscillating dumb-bells, a simple microscopic model of apolar swimmers, move at low Reynold's number. In accordance with Purcell's Scallop Theorem a single dumb-bell cannot swim because its stroke is…
We address the swimming problem at low Reynolds number. This regime, which is typically used for micro-swimmers, is described by Stokes equations. We couple a PDE solver of Stokes equations, derived from the Feel++ finite elements library,…
The swimming of a spheroid immersed in a viscous fluid and performing surface deformations periodically in time is studied on the basis of Stokes equations of low Reynolds number hydrodynamics. The average over a period of time of the…
From bacteria and sperm cells to artificial microrobots, self-propelled microscopic objects at low Reynolds numbers often perceive fluctuating mechanical and chemical stimuli and contact exterior wall boundaries both in nature and the…
The net steady state flow pattern of a distorting sphere is studied in the framework of the bilinear theory of swimming at low Reynolds number. It is argued that the starting point of a theory of interacting active particles should be based…
The swimming of an elliptical disk at small Reynolds number is studied on the basis of a perturbative solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid flow near a deformable infinite sheet. A stroke involving an elliptically polarized…
The oscillatory flow around a spherical object lying on a rough bottom is investigated by means of direct numerical simulations of continuity and Navier-Stokes equations. The rough bottom is simulated by a layer/multiple layers of spherical…
The Scallop Theorem states that reciprocal methods of locomotion, such as jet propulsion or paddling, will not work in Stokes flow (Reynolds number = 0). In nature the effective limit of jet propulsion is still in the range where inertial…
The low-Reynolds-number Stokes flow driven by rotation of two parallel cylinders of equal unit radius is investigated by both analytical and numerical techniques. In Part I, the case of counter-rotating cylinders is considered. A numerical…
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…
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…
Both natural and artificial small-scale swimmers may often self-propel in environments subject to complex geometrical constraints. While most past theoretical work on low-Reynolds number locomotion addressed idealised geometrical…
Explicit expressions are derived for the matrices determining the mean translational and rotational swimming velocities and the mean rate of dissipation for Stokesian swimming at low Reynolds number of a distorting sphere in a viscous…
In this article, we consider a swimmer (i.e. a self-deformable body) immersed in a fluid, the flow of which is governed by the stationary Stokes equations. This model is relevant for studying the locomotion of microorganisms or micro robots…
The swimming velocity and rate of dissipation of a linear chain consisting of two or three little spheres and a big sphere is studied on the basis of low Reynolds number hydrodynamics. The big sphere is treated as a passive cargo, driven by…
Conventionally, a microscopic particle that performs a reciprocal stroke cannot move through its environment. This is because at small scales, the response of simple Newtonian fluids is purely viscous and flows are time-reversible. We show…