Stokesian Dynamics Simulations of a New Microswimmer Model in Various Settings: Daily Life at the Small Scale

We introduce a new theoretical microswimmer model which in principle also admits of physical construction. The swimmer is implemented computationally within the framework of our constraint Stokesian Dynamics (SD) approach in the particular form of the HSHAKE algorithm[1],
as recently extended to allow for the presence of a linear flow[2]. We apply this microswimmer model in SD simulations to explore various aspects of the physics of swimming in the low Reynolds number regime. First, we study the swimmer motion in unbounded quiescent fluid, then we examine the effect of inserting a nearby infinite plane wall, specifically as it pertains to swimmer retardation and possible capture by the hydrodynamic effect of the wall, and
finally we investigate the result of applying a shear flow to a wall-captured swimmer. Our findings highlight the often counterintuitive aspects of swimming at the microscale. Lastly, we stress that the approach adopted to implement computationally our conceptual microswimmer is applicable in general to any other theoretical microswimmer.

[1] R. Kutteh, J. Chem. Phys., 2003, 119, 9280; R. Kutteh, Phys. Rev. E, 2004, 69, 011406.
[2] See other talk “Stokesian Dynamics of Arbitrary-Shape Passive and Active Particles in Linear Flow: Constraint and Rigid Body Approaches”