Journal
JOURNAL OF FLUID MECHANICS
Volume 773, Issue -, Pages 498-519Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2015.269
Keywords
biological fluid dynamics; low-Reynolds-number flows; micro-organism dynamics
Categories
Funding
- ERC Advanced Grant MiCE
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We study tracer particle transport due to flows created by a self-propelled micro-swimmer, such as a swimming bacterium, alga or a microscopic artificial swimmer. Recent theoretical work has shown that as a swimmer moves in the fluid bulk along an infinite straight path, tracer particles far from its path perform closed loops, whereas those close to the swimmer are entrained by its motion. However, in biologically and technologically important cases tracer transport is significantly altered for swimmers that move in a run-and-tumble fashion with a finite persistence length, and/or in the presence of a free surface or a solid boundary. Here we present a systematic analytical and numerical study exploring the resultant regimes and their crossovers. Our focus is on describing qualitative features of the tracer particle transport and developing quantitative tools for its analysis. Our work is a step towards understanding the ecological effects of flows created by swimming organisms, such as enhanced fluid mixing and biofilm formation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available