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Rotation of slender swimmers in isotropic-drag media.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Koens, Lyndon Mathijs  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2059-8268

Abstract

The drag anisotropy of slender filaments is a critical physical property allowing swimming in low-Reynolds number flows, and without it linear translation is impossible. Here we show that, in contrast, net rotation can occur under isotropic drag. We first demonstrate this result formally by considering the consequences of the force- and torque-free conditions on swimming bodies and we then illustrate it with two examples (a simple swimmers made of three rods and a model bacterium with two helical flagellar filaments). Our results highlight the different role of hydrodynamic forces in generating translational versus rotational propulsion.

Description

Keywords

physics.flu-dyn, physics.flu-dyn, cond-mat.soft, physics.bio-ph

Journal Title

Phys Rev E

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2470-0045
2470-0053

Volume Title

Publisher

American Physical Society (APS)
Sponsorship
This research was funded in part by the European Union through a Marie Curie CIG grant (EL) and by the Cambridge Trust (LK).