摘要

The motion of a spherical squirmer in unsteady Stokes flow is investigated for a deeper understanding of unsteady inertial effects on swimming micro-organisms and differences of swimming strokes between a wave pattern and a flapping motion. An asymptotic analysis with respect to the small amplitude and the small inertia is performed, and the average swimming velocity after a long period of time under an assumption of a time-periodic stroke is obtained. This analysis shows that the scallop theorem still holds in a long-time asymptotic sense for tangential deformation, but that the time variation of the shape generates a net velocity even for a reciprocal swimmer. It is also found that the inertial effects on the swimming velocity are significant for a flapping swimmer, as contrasted with little influence on that of a swimmer with a wave pattern. The inertial effect is also illustrated with a simple squirmer, so that a reciprocal motion can be almost an optimal stroke under a constraint on energy consumption.

  • 出版日期2013-5

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