Rehinging biflagellar locomotion in a viscous fluid.
A means of swimming in a viscous fluid is presented, in which a swimmer with only two links rotates around a joint and then rehinges in a periodic fashion in what is here termed rehinging locomotion. This two-link rigid swimmer is shown to locomote with an efficiency similar to that of Purcell's well-studied three-link swimmer, but with a simpler morphology. The hydrodynamically optimal stroke of an analogous flexible biflagellated swimmer is also considered. The introduction of flexibility is found to increase the swimming efficiency by up to 520% as the body begins to exhibit wavelike dynamics, with an upper bound on the efficiency determined by a degeneracy in the limit of infinite flexibility.
Spagnolie
Saverio E
SE
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, New York 10012, USA.
D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology*; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012212:Rheology / Q000379:methods*; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*; D014783:Viscosity