Related papers: Reciprocal swimming at intermediate Reynolds numbe…
We use particle simulations to reveal two distinct propulsion mechanisms for a scallop-like swimmer to locomote itself in granular media by reciprocally flapping its wings. Based on the discrete element method, we examine the kinematics and…
We present a two dimensional model of hydrodynamic interaction between a circular swimmer and a circular post at low Reynolds number, using a point singularity description of the swimming activity. We derive a nonlinear dynamical system…
We provide exact solutions of the Stokes equations for a squirming sphere close to a no-slip surface, both planar and spherical, and for the interactions between two squirmers, in three dimensions. These allow the hydrodynamic interactions…
We experimentally study a scallop-like swimmer with reciprocally flapping wings in a nearly frictionless, cohesive granular medium consisting of hydrogel spheres. Significant locomotion is found when the swimmer's flapping frequency matches…
The use of the reciprocal theorem has been shown to be a powerful tool to obtain the swimming velocity of bodies at low Reynolds number. The use of this method for lower-dimensional swimmers, such as cylinders and sheets, is more…
Microswimmers, especially in theoretical treatments, are generally taken to be completely inertia-free, since inertial effects on their motion are typically small and assuming their absence simplifies the problem considerably. Yet in nature…
Purcell's scallop theorem states that swimmers deforming their shapes in a time-reversible manner ("reciprocal" motion) cannot swim. Using numerical simulations and theoretical calculations we show here that in a fluctuating environment,…
Inspired by recent experiments using synthetic microswimmers to manipulate droplets, we investigate the low-Reynolds-number locomotion of a model swimmer (a spherical squirmer) encapsulated inside a droplet of comparable size in another…
We perform fully coupled numerical simulations using immersed boundary methods of finite-size spheres and fibres suspended in a turbulent flow for a range of Taylor Reynolds numbers $12.8<Re_\lambda<442$ and solid mass fractions $0\leq…
We present a theory for the self-propulsion of symmetric, half spherical Marangoni boats (soap or camphor boats) at low Reynolds numbers. Propulsion is generated by release (diffusive emission or dissolution) of water-soluble surfactant…
Shear-thinning is an important rheological property of many biological fluids, such as mucus, whereby the apparent viscosity of the fluid decreases with shear. Certain microscopic swimmers have been shown to progress more rapidly through…
Microorganisms are rarely found in Nature swimming freely in an unbounded fluid. Instead, they typically encounter other organisms, hard walls, or deformable boundaries such as free interfaces or membranes. Hydrodynamic interactions between…
We investigate the translational motion of rotating colloidal systems at moderate Reynolds numbers (Re), focusing on particle dimers in snowman-like configurations under three scenarios: (i) two co-rotating spheres driven by an external…
We suggest several reciprocal swimming mechanisms that lead to a locomotion only in viscoelastic fluids. The first situation is to have a difference between the two amplitudes of the oscillatory arm motion for a three-sphere microswimmer.…
In the limit of zero Reynolds number (Re), swimmers propel themselves exploiting a series of non-reciprocal body motions. For an artificial swimmer, a proper selection of the power source is required to drive its motion, in cooperation with…
It is a commonly observed phenomenon that spherical particles with inertia in an incompressible fluid do not behave as ideal tracers. Due to the inertia of the particle, the dynamics are described in a four dimensional phase space and thus…
Swimming and pumping at low Reynolds numbers are subject to the "Scallop theorem", which states that there will be no net fluid flow for time reversible motions. Living organisms such as bacteria and cells are subject to this constraint,…
We study swimming of small spherical particles who regulate fluid flow on their surface by applying tangential squirming strokes. We derive translational and rotational velocities for any given stroke which is not restricted by axial…
Microswimmers, and among them aspirant microrobots, generally have to cope with flows where viscous forces are dominant, characterized by a low Reynolds number ($Re$). This implies constraints on the possible sequences of body motion, which…
An axisymmetric squirmer in a Bingham viscoplastic fluid is studied numerically to determine the effect of a yield stress environment on locomotion. The nonlinearity of the governing equations necessitates numerical methods, which is…