No Arabic abstract
By synergistically combining modeling, simulation and experiments, we show that there exists a regime of self-propulsion in which the inertia in the fluid dynamics can be separated from that of the swimmer. This is demonstrated by the motion of an asymmetric dumbbell that, despite deforming in a reciprocal fashion, self-propagates in a fluid due to a non-reciprocal Stokesian flow field. The latter arises from the difference in the coasting times of the two constitutive beads. This asymmetry acts as a second degree of freedom, recovering the scallop theorem at the mesoscopic scale.
We reconsider fluid dynamics for a self-propulsive swimmer in Stokes flow. With an exact definition of deformation of a swimmer, a proof is given to Purcells scallop theorem including the body rotation. The breakdown of the theorem due to a finite Stokes number is discussed by using a perturbation expansion method and it is found that the breakdown generally occurs at the first order of the Stokes number. In addition, employing the Purcells scallop model, we show that the theorem holds up to a higher order if the strokes of the swimmer has some symmetry.
We present the first time-resolved measurements of the oscillatory velocity field induced by swimming unicellular microorganisms. Confinement of the green alga C. reinhardtii in stabilized thin liquid films allows simultaneous tracking of cells and tracer particles. The measured velocity field reveals complex time-dependent flow structures, and scales inversely with distance. The instantaneous mechanical power generated by the cells is measured from the velocity fields and peaks at 15 fW. The dissipation per cycle is more than four times what steady swimming would require.
It is well known that flagellated bacteria swim in circles near surfaces. However, recent experiments have shown that a sulfide-oxidizing bacterium named Thiovulum majus can transition from swimming in circles to a surface bound state where it stops swimming while remaining free to move laterally along the surface. In this bound state, the cell rotates perpendicular to the surface with its flagella pointing away from it. Using numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, we demonstrate the existence of a fluid-structure interaction instability that causes cells with relatively short flagella to become surface bound.
We show that simulations of polymer rheology at a fluctuating mesoscopic scale and at the macroscopic scale where flow instabilities occur can be achieved at the same time with dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) technique.} We model the visco-elasticity of polymer liquids by introducing a finite fraction of dumbbells in the standard DPD fluid. The stretching and tumbling statistics of these dumbbells is in agreement with what is known for isolated polymers in shear flows. At the same time, the model exhibits behaviour reminiscent of drag reduction in the turbulent state: as the polymer fraction increases, the onset of turbulence in plane Couette flow is pushed to higher Reynolds numbers. The method opens up the possibility to model nontrivial rheological conditions with ensuing coarse grained polymer statistics.
In analogy with similar effects in adiabatic compressible fluid dynamics, the effects of buoyancy gradients on incompressible stratified flows are said to be `thermal. The thermal rotating shallow water (TRSW) model equations contain three small nondimensional parameters. These are the Rossby number, the Froude number and the buoyancy parameter. Asymptotic expansion of the TRSW model equations in these three small parameters leads to the deterministic therma