Related papers: Bridging Walking and Slithering -- Stokesian Locom…
Using Molecular Dynamics simulations of a polymer liquid flowing past flat and patterned surfaces, we investigate the influence of corrugation, wettability and pressure on slippage and friction at the solid-liquid interface. For…
A nonlinear model representing the tribological problem of a thin solid lubricant layer between two sliding periodic surfaces is used to analyze the phenomenon of hysteresis at pinning/depinning around a moving state rather than around a…
Hydrophobic textured surfaces are studied for their low wettability and their capacity to create a 'slippery' fluid on the surface during lubrication. To this end, the flow between two parallel surfaces is numerically addressed by computing…
Relative motion between soft wet solids arises in a number of applications in natural and artificial settings, and invariably couples elastic deformation and fluid flow. We explore this in a minimal setting by considering a fluid-immersed…
In low Reynolds number swimming and pumping, differently to everyday experience, a net motion (or flow) can be achieved only if the constructing parts of the swimmer (or pump) follow a non-trivial pattern of motion, in order to break time…
Microswimmers in suspension exhibit collective swimming behaviour, forming various self-organised structures including ordered, aggregated, and turbulent-like structures. When mixed with passive particles phase-separation is known to occur,…
We investigate the behavior of the slip length in Newtonian liquids subject to planar shear bounded by substrates with mixed boundary conditions. The upper wall, consisting of a homogenous surface of finite or vanishing slip, moves at a…
The traction on the surface of a spherical active colloid in a thermally fluctuating Stokesian fluid contains passive, active, and Brownian contributions. Here we derive these three parts systematically, by "projecting out" the fluid using…
We simulate the nonlocal Stokesian hydrodynamics of an elastic filament which is active due a permanent distribution of stresslets along its contour. A bending instability of an initially straight filament spontaneously breaks flow symmetry…
In this paper we investigate different strategies to overcome the scallop theorem. We will show how to obtain a net motion exploiting the fluid's type change during a periodic deformation. We are interested in two different models: in the…
A variety of swimming microorganisms, called ciliates, exploit the bending of a large number of small and densely-packed organelles, termed cilia, in order to propel themselves in a viscous fluid. We consider a spherical envelope model for…
Many microorganisms and artificial microswimmers use helical appendages in order to generate locomotion. Though often rotated so as to produce thrust, some species of bacteria such Spiroplasma, Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Spirochetes induce…
We discuss theoretical models for the cooperative binding dynamics of ligands to substrates, such as dimeric motor proteins to microtubules or more extended macromolecules like tropomyosin to actin filaments. We study the effects of steric…
Similar to their counterparts in nature, the flexible bodies of snake-like robots enhance their movement capability and adaptability in diverse environments. However, this flexibility corresponds to a complex control task involving highly…
Animals locomote for various reasons: to search for food, find suitable habitat, pursue prey, escape from predators, or seek a mate. The grand scale of biodiversity contributes to the great locomotory design and mode diversity. Various…
Recent research on mobile robots has focused on increasing their adaptability to unpredictable and unstructured environments using soft materials and structures. However, the determination of key design parameters and control over these…
State-of-the-art approaches to legged locomotion are widely dependent on the use of models like the linear inverted pendulum (LIP) and the spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP), popular because their simplicity enables a wide array of…
Cloaking is a method of making obstacles undetectable. Here we cloak unit cells of a magnetic pattern squeezed into an otherwise periodic pattern from a magnetically driven colloidal flow. We apply a time-periodic external magnetic field…
Plasticity with softening and fracture mechanics lead to ill-posed mathematical problems due to the loss of monotonicity. Multiple co-existing solutions are possible when softening elements are coupled together, and solutions cannot be…
We consider a simple model for the fluctuating hydrodynamics of a flexible polymer in dilute solution, demonstrating geometric ergodicity for a pair of particles that interact with each other through a nonlinear spring potential while being…