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Active particles in periodic lattices

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Chamolly, Alexander  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2383-9314
Ishikawa, T 

Abstract

Both natural and artificial small-scale swimmers may often self-propel in environments subject to complex geometrical constraints. While most past theoretical work on low-Reynolds number locomotion addressed idealised geometrical situations, not much is known on the motion of swimmers in heterogeneous environments. As a first theoretical model, we investigate numerically the behaviour of a single spherical micro-swimmer located in an infinite, periodic body-centred cubic lattice consisting of rigid inert spheres of the same size as the swimmer. Running a large number of simulations we uncover the phase diagram of possible trajectories as a function of the strength of the swimming actuation and the packing density of the lattice. We then use hydrodynamic theory to rationalise our computational results and show in particular how the far-field nature of the swimmer (pusher vs. puller) governs even the behaviour at high volume fractions.

Description

Keywords

low-Reynolds number locomotion, active particles, complex environment, Stokesian dynamics, lubrication theory

Journal Title

New Journal of Physics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1367-2630
1367-2630

Volume Title

19

Publisher

IOP Publishing
Sponsorship
European Research Council (682754)