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Complex fluids affect low-Reynolds number locomotion in a kinematic-dependent manner

Complex fluids affect low-Reynolds number locomotion in a kinematic-dependent manner In order to improve our understanding of the self-propulsion of swimming microorganisms in viscoelastic fluids, we study experimentally the locomotion of three artificial macro-scale swimmers in Newtonian and synthetic Boger fluids. Each swimmer is made of a rigid head and a tail whose dynamics leads to viscous propulsion. By considering three different kinematics of the tail (helical rigid, planar flexible, and helical flexible) in the same fluid, we demonstrate experimentally that the impact of viscoelasticity on the locomotion speed of the swimmers depends crucially on the kinematics of the tails. Specifically, rigid helical swimmers see no change in their swimming speed, swimmers with planar rod-like flexible tails always swim faster, while those with flexible ribbon-like tails undergoing helical deformation go systematically slower. Our study points to a subtle interplay between tail deformation, actuation, and viscoelastic stresses, and is relevant to the three-dimensional dynamics of flagellated cells in non-Newtonian fluids. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Experiments in Fluids Springer Journals

Complex fluids affect low-Reynolds number locomotion in a kinematic-dependent manner

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References (55)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Subject
Engineering; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Fluid- and Aerodynamics; Engineering Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer
ISSN
0723-4864
eISSN
1432-1114
DOI
10.1007/s00348-015-1961-3
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In order to improve our understanding of the self-propulsion of swimming microorganisms in viscoelastic fluids, we study experimentally the locomotion of three artificial macro-scale swimmers in Newtonian and synthetic Boger fluids. Each swimmer is made of a rigid head and a tail whose dynamics leads to viscous propulsion. By considering three different kinematics of the tail (helical rigid, planar flexible, and helical flexible) in the same fluid, we demonstrate experimentally that the impact of viscoelasticity on the locomotion speed of the swimmers depends crucially on the kinematics of the tails. Specifically, rigid helical swimmers see no change in their swimming speed, swimmers with planar rod-like flexible tails always swim faster, while those with flexible ribbon-like tails undergoing helical deformation go systematically slower. Our study points to a subtle interplay between tail deformation, actuation, and viscoelastic stresses, and is relevant to the three-dimensional dynamics of flagellated cells in non-Newtonian fluids.

Journal

Experiments in FluidsSpringer Journals

Published: May 3, 2015

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