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Squirmer locomotion in a yield stress fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2022

Patrick S. Eastham Open the ORCID record for Patrick S. Eastham [Opens in a new window] ,
Hadi Mohammadigoushki Open the ORCID record for Hadi Mohammadigoushki [Opens in a new window]  and
Kourosh Shoele Open the ORCID record for Kourosh Shoele [Opens in a new window]
Patrick S. Eastham
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32311, USA
Hadi Mohammadigoushki
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL 32310, USA
Kourosh Shoele*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL32310, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: kshoele@eng.famu.fsu.edu
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Abstract

An axisymmetric squirmer in a Bingham viscoplastic fluid is studied numerically to determine the effect of a yield stress environment on locomotion. The nonlinearity of the governing equations necessitates numerical methods, which are accomplished by solving a variable-viscosity Stokes equation with a finite element approach. The effects of stroke modes, both pure and combined, are investigated, and it is found that for the treadmill or ‘neutral’ mode, the swimmer in a yield stress fluid has a lower swimming velocity and uses more power. However, the efficiency of swimming reaches its maximum at a finite yield limit. In addition, for higher yield limits, higher stroke modes can increase the swimming velocity and hydrodynamic efficiency of the treadmill swimmer. The higher-order odd-numbered squirming modes, particularly the third stroke mode, can generate propulsion by themselves that increases in strength as the viscoplastic nonlinearity increases to a specific limit. These results are closely correlated with the confinement effects induced by the viscoplastic rigid surface surrounding the swimming body, showing that swimmers in viscoplastic environments, both biological and artificial, could potentially employ other non-standard swimming strategies to optimize their locomotion.

JFM classification

Biological Fluid Dynamics: Micro-organism dynamics Non-Newtonian Flows: Plastic materials
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 948 , 10 October 2022 , A54
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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