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Related papers: Optimal Swimming at low Reynolds numbers

200 papers

We combine a general formulation of microswimmmer equations of motion with a numerical bead-shell model to calculate the hydrodynamic interactions with the fluid, from which the swimming speed, power and efficiency are extracted. From this…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2017-03-07 Bram Bet , Gijs Boosten , Marjolein Dijkstra , René van Roij

The mechanism of swimming at very low Reynolds number conditions is a topic of interest to biologists and engineering community. We develop a novel kinematic model of a slender flexible swimmer which locomotes in a low Reynolds number…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2018-03-26 Sudin Kadam , Ravi N. Banavar

Swimming, i.e., being able to advance in the absence of external forces by performing cyclic shape changes, is particularly demanding at low Reynolds numbers which is the regime of interest for micro-organisms and micro-robots. We focus on…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2012-10-04 François Alouges , Laetitia Giraldi

Cells swimming in viscous fluids create flow fields which influence the transport of relevant nutrients, and therefore their feeding rate. We propose a modeling approach to the problem of optimal feeding at zero Reynolds number. We consider…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2011-10-19 Sébastien Michelin , Eric Lauga

We seek the best stroke sequences of a finite-size swimming predator chasing a non-motile point or finite--size prey at low Reynolds number. We use optimal control to seek the globally-optimal solutions for the former and RL for general…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2022-07-13 Guangpu Zhu , Wen. -Zhen Fang , Lailai Zhu

This article presents a computational framework for determining the optimal slip velocity of a microswimmer with arbitrary three-dimensional geometry suspended in a viscous fluid. The objective is to minimize the hydrodynamic power…

Numerical Analysis · Mathematics 2026-04-09 Marc Bonnet , Kausik Das , Shravan Veerapaneni , Hai Zhu

Active dumbbell suspensions constitute one of the simplest model system for collective swimming at low Reynolds number. Generalizing recent work, we derive and analyze stroke-averaged equations of motion that capture the effective…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2010-10-12 Victor B. Putz , Jörn Dunkel

Contrasting the well explored problem on how to steer a macroscopic agent like an airplane or a moon lander to optimally reach a target, "optimal microswimming", i.e. the quest for the optimal navigation strategy for microswimmers, remains…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2022-05-10 Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider , Hartmut Löwen , Benno Liebchen

Metachronal paddling is a swimming strategy in which an organism oscillates sets of adjacent limbs with a constant phase lag, propagating a metachronal wave through its limbs and propelling it forward. This limb coordination strategy is…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2025-07-28 Alana A. Bailey , Robert D. Guy

A Marangoni surfer is an object embedded in a gas-liquid interface, propelled by gradients in surface tension. We derive an analytical theorem for the lower bound on the viscous dissipation by a Marangoni surfer in the limit of small…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2024-05-15 Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider , Ramin Golestanian , Andrej Vilfan

We consider a model of two competing microswimming agents engaged in a pursue-evasion task within a low-Reynolds-number environment. Agents can only perform simple maneuvers and sense hydrodynamic disturbances, which provide ambiguous…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2022-03-04 Francesco Borra , Luca Biferale , Massimo Cencini , Antonio Celani

As technological advances allow us to fabricate smaller autonomous self-propelled devices, it is clear that at some point directed propulsion could not come from pre-specified deterministic periodic deformation of the swimmer's body and we…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-05-13 Ramin Golestanian , Armand Ajdari

The motion of biological micro-robots -- similar to that of swimming microorganisms such as bacteria or spermatozoa -- is governed by different physical rules than what we experience in our daily life. This is particularly due to the…

Applied Physics · Physics 2019-09-11 Mohsen Saadat , Mehdi Mirzakhanloo , Julie Shen , Masayoshi Tomizuka , Mohammad-Reza Alam

This work aims at finding optimal navigation policies for thin, deformable microswimmers that progress in a viscous fluid by propagating a sinusoidal undulation along their slender body. These active filaments are embedded in a prescribed,…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2023-02-13 Zakarya El Khiyati , Raphael Chesneaux , Laetitia Giraldi , Jeremie Bec

We study self propelled stokesian robots composed of assemblies of balls, in dimensions 2 and 3, and prove that they are able to control their position and orientation. This is a result of controllability, and its proof relies on applying…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-02-12 François Alouges , Antonio DeSimone , Luca Heltai , Aline Lefebvre , Benoît Merlet

Motile microorganisms develop effective swimming gaits to adapt to complex biological environments. Translating this adaptability to smart microrobots presents significant challenges in motion planning and stroke design. In this work, we…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-06-03 Yuyang Lai , Sina Heydari , On Shun Pak , Yi Man

We propose a computational method to solve optimal swimming problems, based on the boundary integral formulation of the hydrodynamic interaction between swimmer and surrounding fluid and direct constrained minimization of the energy…

Numerical Analysis · Mathematics 2010-04-19 François Alouges , Antonio DeSimone , Luca Heltai

We study the properties of arbitrary micro-swimmers towing a passive load through a viscous liquid. The simple close-form expression for the dragging efficiency of a general micro-swimmer dragging a distant load is found, and the leading…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2015-05-13 Oren Raz , Alexander M. Leshansky

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…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2014-03-03 Jayant Pande , Ana-Sunčana Smith

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…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2013-10-21 Marcelo A. Dias , Thomas R. Powers