Formation of a strong negative wake behind a helical swimmer in a viscoelastic fluid

DOI10.1017/JFM.2022.378zbMATH Open1495.76144arXiv2109.07675OpenAlexW3200553338MaRDI QIDQ5077280FDOQ5077280

Authors: Shijian Wu, Tomas Solano, Kourosh Shoele, Hadi Mohammadigoushki 

Publication date: 18 May 2022

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We investigate the effects of helical swimmer shape (i.e., helical pitch angle and tail thickness) on swimming dynamics in a constant viscosity viscoelastic (Boger) fluid via a combination of particle tracking velocimetry, particle image velocimetry and 3D simulations of the FENE-P model. The 3D printed helical swimmer is actuated in a magnetic field using a custom-built rotating Helmholtz coil. Our results indicate that increasing the swimmer tail thickness and pitch angle enhances the normalized swimming speed (i.e., ratio of swimming speed in the Boger fluid to that of the Newtonian fluid). Strikingly, unlike the Newtonian fluid, the viscoelastic flow around the swimmer is characterized by formation of a front-back flow asymmetry that is characterized by a strong negative wake downstream of the swimmer. Evidently, the strength of the negative wake is inversely proportional to the normalized swimming speed. Three-dimensional simulations of the swimmer with FENE-P model with conditions that match those of experiments, confirm formation of a similar front-back flow asymmetry around the swimmer. Finally, by developing an approximate force balance in the streamwise direction, we show that the contribution of polymer stresses in the interior region of the helix may provide a mechanism for swimming enhancement or diminution in the viscoelastic fluid.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.07675

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zbMATH Keywords

Boger fluidexperimental verificationsharp interface methodFENE-P fluid modelfirst-order positivity preserving methodfront-back flow asymmetry

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Viscoelastic fluids (76A10) Experimental work for problems pertaining to fluid mechanics (76-05) Biopropulsion in water and in air (76Z10) Basic methods in fluid mechanics (76M99)

Cites Work

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Cited In (7)

• Swimming and pumping by helical waves in viscous and viscoelastic fluids
• The negative wake behind a sphere sedimenting through a viscoelastic fluid
• Squirmer locomotion in a yield stress fluid
• Enhanced flagellar swimming through a compliant viscoelastic network in Stokes flow
• Study on the hydrodynamics of the helix with non-uniform helical radius in viscoelastic fluid at low Reynolds number
• The role of body flexibility in stroke enhancements for finite-length undulatory swimmers in viscoelastic fluids
• Helicoidal particles and swimmers in a flow at low Reynolds number

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