Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 101, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.048102
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Funding
- NSF [CTS-0624830]
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Reciprocal movement cannot be used for locomotion at low Reynolds number in an infinite fluid or near a rigid surface. Here we show that this limitation is relaxed for a body performing reciprocal motions near a deformable interface. Using physical arguments and scaling relationships, we show that the nonlinearities arising from reciprocal flow-induced interfacial deformation rectify the periodic motion of the swimmer, leading to locomotion. Such a strategy can be used to move toward, away from, and parallel to any deformable interface as long as the length scales involved are smaller than intrinsic scales, which we identify. A macroscale experiment of flapping motion near a free surface illustrates this new result.
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