English
Related papers

Related papers: Feeders and Expellers, Two Types of Animalcules Wi…

200 papers

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…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-10-28 Amir Nazemi , Hongyi Xiao

Flagellated microorganisms overcome the low-Reynolds-number time reversibility by rotating helical flagella. For peritrichous bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, the randomly distributed flagellar filaments align along the same direction to…

The effect of gravity on the collective motion of living microswimmers, such as bacteria and micro-algae, is pivotal to unravel not only bio-convection patterns but also the settling of bacterial biofilms on solid surfaces. In this work, we…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-04-07 C. Miguel Barriuso G. , Horacio Serna , Ignacio Pagonabarraga , Chantal Valeriani

We perform hydrodynamic simulations using the method of multi-particle collision dynamics and a theoretical analysis to study a single squirmer microswimmer at high P\'eclet number, which moves in a low Reynolds number fluid and under…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2018-03-14 Felix Rühle , Johannes Blaschke , Jan-Timm Kuhr , Holger Stark

Microswimmers are often found in heterogeneous and crowded environments within narrow conduits under external flow conditions, enabling them to perform interesting translational and rotational maneuvers, such as swimming in the upstream…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2026-05-26 Margam Ramprasad , Shubhadeep Mandal , Pallab Sinha Mahapatra

Eukaryotic swimming cells such as spermatozoa, algae or protozoa use flagella or cilia to move in viscous fluids. The motion of their flexible appendages in the surrounding fluid induces propulsive forces that balance with the viscous drag…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-10-06 Maciej Lisicki , Marcos F. Velho Rodrigues , Eric Lauga

Swimming cells and microorganisms must often move though complex fluids that contain an immersed microstructure such as polymer molecules, or filaments. In many important biological processes, such as mammalian reproduction and bacterial…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2018-08-06 Arshad Kamal , Eric E Keaveny

We study the orientational and translational dynamics of spherical microswimmers trapped at fluid interfaces, in terms of the force dipole and source dipole components of their flow field. Using numerical simulations and analytical…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2022-04-26 Harinadha Gidituri , Zaiyi Shen , Alois Wurger , Juho S. Lintuvuori

Flagellated bacteria exploiting helical propulsion are known to swim along circular trajectories near surfaces. Fluid dynamics predicts this circular motion to be clockwise (CW) above a rigid surface (when viewed from inside the fluid) and…

Biological Physics · Physics 2014-07-18 Diego Lopez , Eric Lauga

Populations of swimming microorganisms produce fluid motions that lead to dramatically enhanced diffusion of tracer particles. Using simulations of suspensions of swimming particles in a periodic domain, we capture this effect and show that…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2008-07-22 Patrick T. Underhill , Juan P. Hernández-Ortiz , Michael D. Graham

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…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-12-06 Tapan Chandra Adhyapak , Sara Jabbari-Farouji

Cilia and flagella are actively bending slender organelles, performing functions such as motility, feeding and embryonic symmetry breaking. We review the mechanics of viscous-dominated microscale flow, including time-reversal symmetry, drag…

Quantitative Methods · Quantitative Biology 2013-09-06 Thomas D. Montenegro-Johnson , Andrew A. Smith , David J. Smith , Daniel Loghin , John R. Blake

The physical mechanism of microbial motion near solid-liquid interfaces is crucial for understanding various biological phenomena and developing ecological applications. However, limited works have been conducted on the swimming behavior of…

Biological Physics · Physics 2024-11-14 Chunhe Li , Hongyi Bian , Yateng Qiao , Jin Zhu , Zijie Qu

The behavior of fluid interfaces far from equilibrium plays central roles in nature and in industry. Active swimmers trapped at interfaces can alter transport at fluid boundaries with far reaching implications. Swimmers can become trapped…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-02-08 Jiayi Deng , Mehdi Molaei , Nicholas G. Chisholm , Kathleen J. Stebe

The recent discovery of the striking sheet-like multicellular choanoflagellate species $Choanoeca~flexa$ that dynamically interconverts between two hemispherical forms of opposite orientation raises fundamental questions in cell and…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-03-15 Lloyd Fung , Adam Konkol , Takuji Ishikawa , Ben Larson , Thibaut Brunet , Raymond E. Goldstein

Cellular appendages such as cilia and flagella represent universal tools enabling cells and microbes, among other essential functionalities, to propel themselves in diverse environments. In its planktonic, i.e. freely swimming, state the…

We propose minimal models of one-, two- and three-dimensional micro-swimmers at low Reynolds number with a periodic non-reciprocal motion. These swimmers are either "pushers" or "pullers" of fluid along the swimming axis, or combination of…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2010-04-30 Nobuhiko Watari , Ronald G. Larson

It has long been believed that swimming eukaryotes feel solid boundaries through direct ciliary contact. Specifically, based on observations of behavior of green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii it has been reported that it is their "flagella…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2018-07-18 Mehdi Mirzakhanloo , Mohammad-Reza Alam

Many microswimmers are able to swim through viscous fluids by employing periodic non-reciprocal deformations of their appendages. Here we use a simple microswimmer model inspired by swimming biflagellates which consists of a spherical cell…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-08-22 Sridhar Bulusu , Andreas Zöttl

Bacteria predate plants and animals by billions of years. Today, they are the world's smallest cells yet they represent the bulk of the world's biomass, and the main reservoir of nutrients for higher organisms. Most bacteria can move on…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2016-01-20 Eric Lauga