2020/01/01 by S. Mahdiyeh Mousavi, Gerhard Gompper, Roland G. Winkler
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Bacterial biofilms and quorum sensing #Boundary (topology) #Dynamics (music) #Entrapment #Mesoscale meteorology #Micro and Nano Robotics #Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence #Scattering #Steric effects #cond-mat.soft #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1039/d0sm00571a
published as Soft Matter 16, 4866 (2020)
openalex publication_date 2020/01/01 · openalex created_date 2020/05/13 · arxiv created 2020/07/02 · arxiv updated 2020/07/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Microswimmers such as E. coli bacteria accumulate and exhibit an intriguing dynamics near walls, governed by hydrodynamic and steric interactions. Insight into the underlying mechanisms and predominant interactions demand a detailed characterization of the entrapment process. We employ a mesoscale hydrodynamics simulation approach to study entrapment of an E. coli-type cell at a no-slip wall. The cell is modeled by a spherocylindrical body with several explicit helical flagella. Three stages of the entrapment process can be distinguished: the approaching regime, where a cell swims toward a wall on a nearly straight trajectory; a scattering regime, where the cell touches the wall and reorients; and a surface-swimming regime. Our simulations show that steric interactions may dominate the entrapment process, yet, hydrodynamic interactions slow down the adsorption dynamics close to the boundary and imply a circular motion on the wall. The locomotion of the cell is characterized by a strong wobbling dynamics, with cells preferentially pointing toward the wall during surface swimming.