title: Kinematics of the most efficient cilium.
abstract: In a variety of biological processes, eukaryotic cells use cilia to transport flow. Although cilia have a remarkably conserved internal molecular structure, experimental observations report very diverse kinematics. To address this diversity, we determine numerically the kinematics and energetics of the most efficient cilium. Specifically, we compute the time-periodic deformation of a wall-bound elastic filament leading to transport of a surrounding fluid at minimum energetic cost, where the cost is taken to be the positive work done by all internal molecular motors. The optimal kinematics are found to strongly depend on the cilium bending rigidity through a single dimensionless number, the Sperm number, and closely resemble the two-stroke ciliary beating pattern observed experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0411, USA. eloy@irphe.univ-mrs.fr
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eloy
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lauga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002923:Cilia / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008954:Models, Biological; D049853:Pleurobranchaea / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology