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Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Chemotactic Response of Marine Micro-Organisms to Micro-Scale Nutrient Layers
Published on: May 28, 2007
Collective Motion of Microorganisms in a Viscoelastic Fluid
Gaojin Li1, Arezoo M Ardekani1
1School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
Abstract:
We study the collective motion of a suspension of rodlike microswimmers in a two-dimensional film of viscoelastic fluids. We find that the fluid elasticity has a small effect on a suspension of pullers, while it significantly affects the pushers. The attraction and orientational ordering of the pushers are enhanced in viscoelastic fluids. The induced polymer stresses break down the large-scale flow structures and suppress velocity fluctuations. In addition, the energy spectra and induced mixing in the suspension of pushers are greatly modified by fluid elasticity.
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