Serpentine locomotion through elastic energy release

A model for serpentine locomotion is derived from a novel perspective based on concepts from configurational mechanics. The motion is realized through the release of the elastic energy of a deformable rod, sliding inside a frictionless channel, which represents a snake moving against lateral restraints. A new formulation is presented, correcting previous results and including situations never analysed so far, as in the cases when the serpent's body lies only partially inside the restraining channel or when the body has a muscle relaxation localized in a small zone. Micromechanical considerations show that propulsion is the result of reactions tangential to the frictionless constraint and acting on the snake's body, a counter-intuitive feature in mechanics. It is also experimentally demonstrated that the propulsive force driving serpentine motion can be directly measured on a designed apparatus in which flexible bars sweep a frictionless channel. Experiments fully confirm the theoretical modelling, so that the presented results open the way to exploration of effects, such as variability in the bending stiffness or channel geometry or friction, on the propulsive force of snake models made up of elastic rods.