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Impacts of Free-falling Spheres on a Deep Liquid Pool with Altered Fluid and Impactor Surface Conditions

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Published on: February 17, 2019

Three-sphere swimmer in a nonlinear viscoelastic medium.

Mark P Curtis¹, Eamonn A Gaffney

¹Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3LB, United Kingdom. curtis@maths.ox.ac.uk

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|May 18, 2013

Summary

This study analyzes a three-sphere swimmer in Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids. The swimmer moves farther and more efficiently in viscoelastic fluids due to enhanced motility.

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Area of Science:

Fluid dynamics
Rheology
Biophysics

Background:

Microswimmers rely on non-reciprocal motion for propulsion.
Viscoelastic fluids exhibit complex behaviors impacting microscale dynamics.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze the swimming dynamics of a three-sphere model.
To investigate the effects of viscoelasticity on swimmer displacement and efficiency.

Main Methods:

Analytical determination of swimmer dynamics in Newtonian and Oldroyd-B viscoelastic fluids.
Modeling a three-sphere swimmer with prescribed forcing.

Main Results:

The three-sphere swimmer exhibits enhanced displacement and efficiency in Oldroyd-B viscoelastic fluids compared to Newtonian fluids.
Nonlinear viscoelastic contributions do not affect leading-order swimmer motility under prescribed forcing.

Conclusions:

Viscoelasticity significantly enhances microswimmer performance.
The three-sphere model provides insights into propulsion in complex fluids.