The dynamics of periodic swimming is studied for two models of a deformable sphere, the dipole-quadrupole model and the quadrupole-octupole model. For the two models the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations can be found exactly to second order in the amplitude of stroke. Hence the oscillating force exerted by the fluid on the body is calculated. This allows calculation of the periodic time-dependent center of mass velocity.
We study the fluid dynamics of two fish-like bodies with synchronised swimming patterns. Our studies are based on two-dimensional simulations of viscous incompressible flows. We distinguish between motion patterns that are externally imposed on the swimmers and self-propelled swimmers that learn manoeuvres to achieve certain goals. Simulations of two rigid bodies executing pre-specified motion indicate that flow-mediated interactions can lead to substantial drag reduction and may even generate thrust intermittently. In turn we examine two self-propelled swimmers arranged in a leader-follower configuration, with a-priori specified body-deformations. We find that the swimming of the leader remains largely unaffected, while the follower experiences either an increase or decrease in swimming speed, depending on the initial conditions. Finally, we consider a follower that synchronises its motion so as to minimise its lateral deviations from the leaders path. The leader employs a steady gait while the follower uses a reinforcement learning algorithm to adapt its swimming-kinematics. We find that swimming in a synchronised tandem can yield up to about 30% reduction in energy expenditure for the follower, in addition to a 20% increase in its swimming-efficiency. The present results indicate that synchronised swimming of two fish can be energetically beneficial.
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.
In this fluid dynamics video, we demonstrate the microscale mixing enhancement of passive tracer particles in suspensions of swimming microalgae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. These biflagellated, single-celled eukaryotes (10 micron diameter) swim with a breaststroke pulling motion of their flagella at speeds of about 100 microns/s and exhibit heterogeneous trajectory shapes. Fluorescent tracer particles (2 micron diameter) allowed us to quantify the enhanced mixing caused by the swimmers, which is relevant to suspension feeding and biogenic mixing. Without swimmers present, tracer particles diffuse slowly due solely to Brownian motion. As the swimmer concentration is increased, the probability density functions (PDFs) of tracer displacements develop strong exponential tails, and the Gaussian core broadens. High-speed imaging (500 Hz) of tracer-swimmer interactions demonstrates the importance of flagellar beating in creating oscillatory flows that exceed Brownian motion out to about 5 cell radii from the swimmers. Finally, we also show evidence of possible cooperative motion and synchronization between swimming algal cells.
Particular types of plankton in aquatic ecosystems can coordinate their motion depending on the local flow environment to reach regions conducive to their growth or reproduction. Investigating their swimming strategies with regard to the local environment is important to obtain in-depth understanding of their behavior in the aquatic environment. In the present research, to examine an impact of the shape and gravity on a swimming strategy, plankton is considered as settling swimming particles of ellipsoidal shape. The Q-learning approach is adopted to obtain swimming strategies for smart particles with a goal of efficiently moving upwards in a two-dimensional steady flow. Strategies obtained from reinforcement learning are compared to those of naive gyrotactic particles that is modeled considering the behavior of realistic plankton. It is found that elongation of particles improves the performance of upward swimming by facilitating particles resistance to the perturbation of vortex. In the case when the settling velocity is included, the strategy obtained by reinforcement learning has similar performance to that of the naive gyrotactic one, and they both align swimmers in upward direction. The similarity between the strategy obtained from machine learning and the biological gyrotactic strategy indicates the relationship between the aspherical shape and settling effect of realistic plankton and their gyrotactic feature.
We perform $3$D numerical simulations to investigate the sedimentation of a single sphere in the absence and presence of a simple cross shear flow in a yield stress fluid with weak inertia. In our simulations, the settling flow is considered to be the primary flow, whereas the linear cross shear flow is a secondary flow with amplitude $10%$ of the primary flow. To study the effects of elasticity and plasticity of the carrying fluid on the sphere drag as well as the flow dynamics, the fluid is modeled using the elastovisco-plastic (EVP) constitutive laws proposed by cite{saramito2009new}. The extra non-Newtonian stress tensor is fully coupled with the flow equation and the solid particle is represented by an immersed boundary (IB) method. Our results show that the fore-aft asymmetry in the velocity is less pronounced and the negative wake disappears when a linear cross shear flow is applied. We find that the drag on a sphere settling in a sheared yield stress fluid is reduced significantly as compared to an otherwise quiescent fluid. More importantly, the sphere drag in the presence of a secondary cross shear flow cannot be derived from the pure sedimentation drag law owing to the non-linear coupling between the simple shear flow and the uniform flow. Finally, we show that the drag on the sphere settling in a sheared yield-stress fluid is reduced at higher material elasticity mainly due to the form and viscous drag reduction.