A three-sphere micro-swimmer in a structured fluid

by Prof. Shigeyuki Komura

Department Of Chemistry, Tokyo Metropolitan University
at Biological and soft-matter physics

Thu, 10 Dec 2020, 12:10
ZOOM only - Meeting ID: 841 9016 0947

Abstract

We discuss the locomotion of a three-sphere microswimmer
in a viscoelastic structured fluid characterized by typical length and time
scales. We derive a general expression to link the average swimming
velocity to the sphere mobilities. In this relationship, a viscous contribution
exists when the time-reversal symmetry is broken, whereas an elastic
contribution is present when the structural symmetry of the microswimmer
is broken. As an example of a structured fluid, we consider a polymer gel,
which is described by a "two-fluid" model. We demonstrate in detail that the
competition between the swimmer size and the polymer mesh size gives
rise to the rich dynamics of a three-sphere microswimmer.

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Meeting ID: 841 9016 0947

Created on 23-10-2020 by Granek, Rony (rgranek)
Updaded on 23-11-2020 by Granek, Rony (rgranek)