Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026

Visually Based Characterization of the Incipient Particle Motion in Regular Substrates: From Laminar to Turbulent Conditions
Published on: February 22, 2018
Minimal polar swimmer at low Reynolds number
1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
Abstract:
We propose a minimal model for a polar swimmer, consisting of two spheres connected by a rigid slender arm, at low Reynolds number. The propulsive velocity for the proposed model is the maximum for any swimming cycle with the same variations in its two degrees of freedom and its displacement in a cycle is achieved entirely in one step. The stroke averaged flow field generated by the contractile swimmer at large distances is found to be dipolar. In addition, the changing radius of one of the spheres generates the field of a potential doublet centered at its initial position.
Related Concept Videos
Poiseuille's Law and Reynolds Number
The Buckingham Pi Theorem
Dimensionless Groups in Fluid Mechanics
Reynolds Transport Theorem
Laminar Flow
Typical Model Studies

