Dynamics and Stability of Low-Reynolds-Number Swimming Near a Wall
- Creators
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Or, Yizhar
- Zhang, Sebastian
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Murray, Richard M.
Abstract
The locomotion of microorganisms and tiny artificial swimmers is governed by low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamics, where viscous effects dominate and inertial effects are negligible. While the theory of low-Reynolds-number locomotion is well studied for unbounded fluid domains, the presence of a boundary has a significant influence on the swimmer's trajectories and poses problems of dynamic stability of its motion. In this paper we consider a simple theoretical model of a microswimmer near a wall, study its dynamics, and analyze the stability of its motion. We highlight the underlying geometric structure of the dynamics, and establish a relation between the reversing symmetry of the system and existence and stability of periodic and steady solutions of motion near the wall. The results are demonstrated by numerical simulations and validated by motion experiments with macroscale robotic swimmer prototypes.
Additional Information
© 2011 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. Received by the editors September 15, 2010; accepted for publication (in revised form) by T. Kaper April 23, 2011; published electronically September 20, 2011. Preliminary versions of these results appeared previously in [55] and [73].Attached Files
Published - Or2011p16115SIAM_J._Appl._Dyn._Syst.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 27516
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20111031-100248775
- Created
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2011-10-31Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field