2024/10/03 by Aditya Jha, Jha, Aditya, Yacine Amarouchène +3 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Studies #Micro and Nano Robotics #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2410.02278
openalex publication_date 2024/10/03 · openalex created_date 2024/10/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In 1951, G.I. Taylor modeled swimming microorganisms by hypothesizing an infinite sheet in 2D moving in a viscous medium due to a wave passing through it. This simple model not only captured the ability of microorganisms to swim due to the wavy motion of a flagella, but further development into the model captured the optimal nature of metachronal waves observed in ciliates. While the additional effects of nearby rigid boundaries and complex environments have been addressed, herein we explore the correction induced by a nearby soft boundary. Our simple model allows us to show that the magnitude of the swimming velocity gets modified near soft boundaries, and reduces for transverse waves while it increases for longitudinal waves. We further delve into the energetics of the process and the deformation of the corresponding soft boundary, highlighting the synchronization of the oscillations induced on the soft boundary with the waves passing through the sheet and the corresponding changes to the power exerted on the fluid.