Viscoelastic propulsion of a rotating dumbbell

Puente-Velázquez, J. Amadeus; Godínez, F. A.; Lauga, Eric; Zenit, Roberto

doi:10.1007/s10404-019-2275-1

Cited by 24 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(68 reference statements)

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“…1b, c ). Both 4% mucin and 0.25% polyacrylamide are viscoelastic and shear thinning at the applied shear rates 10 , 17 – 19 and possessed first and second normal stress differences (see in Methods). Polyacrylamide solutions are known to have first and second normal stress differences 20 , 21 , and we were able to measure normal stress differences in 10% mucin solutions (see in Methods and Supplementary Note 10 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids

et al. 2021

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Microscale propulsion impacts a diverse array of fields ranging from biology and ecology to health applications, such as infection, fertility, drug delivery, and microsurgery. However, propulsion in such viscous drag-dominated fluid environments is highly constrained, with time-reversal and geometric symmetries ruling out entire classes of propulsion. Here, we report the spontaneous symmetry-breaking propulsion of rotating spherical microparticles within non-Newtonian fluids. While symmetry analysis suggests that propulsion is not possible along the fore-aft directions, we demonstrate the existence of two equal and opposite propulsion states along the sphere’s rotation axis. We propose and experimentally corroborate a propulsion mechanism for these spherical microparticles, the simplest microswimmers to date, arising from nonlinear viscoelastic effects in rotating flows similar to the rod-climbing effect. Similar possibilities of spontaneous symmetry-breaking could be used to circumvent other restrictions on propulsion, revising notions of microrobotic design and control, drug delivery, microscale pumping, and locomotion of microorganisms.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In non-Newtonian fluids, time-reversal symmetry is explicitly broken and kinematic reversibility does not hold, allowing reciprocal strokes to achieve propulsion 8 – 10 ; however, geometrical symmetry analyses still apply. Of particular importance here is fore-and-aft symmetry relative to the direction of propulsion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids

et al. 2021

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“…2018; Puente-Velázquez etal. 2019). To date, however, no one has explicitly considered how this rotational–translational coupling may affect the propulsion of self-propelled swimming microorganisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this report we propose an alternative mechanism for the speed enhancement of swimming microorganisms that originates from the coupling of fluid elasticity and local swirling flow. Indeed, previous studies have demonstrated that rotational motion can engender net translational motion in a viscoelastic fluid via hoop stresses that are created by the stretching of polymer molecules around the immersed body (Pak et al 2012;Rogowski et al 2018;Puente-Velázquez et al 2019). To date, however, no one has explicitly considered how this rotational-translational coupling may affect the propulsion of self-propelled swimming microorganisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swimming with swirl in a viscoelastic fluid

et al. 2020

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“…In contrast, most spermatozoa and some nematodes, such as Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), swim using a planar waving deformation of their flagella or slender body. In the lab, different types of artificial swimmers have been designed and fabricated to mimic the swimming behavior of microorganisms; this includes self-phoretic colloids [29], particles externally actuated by magnetic, acoustic, electric fields [30,31,32], vibrated granular matter [33] and magnetic torque-driven helical robots [34,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microswimming in viscoelastic fluids

Li¹,

Lauga²,

Ardekani³

2021

Preprint

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The locomotion of microorganisms and spermatozoa in complex viscoelastic fluids is of critical importance in many biological processes such as fertilization, infection, and biofilm formation. Depending on their propulsion mechanisms, microswimmers display various responses to a complex fluid environment: increasing or decreasing their swimming speed and efficiency, modifying their propulsion kinematics and swimming gaits, and experiencing different hydrodynamic interactions with their surroundings. In this article, we review the fundamental physics of locomotion of biological and synthetic microswimmers in complex viscoelastic fluids. Starting from a continuum framework, we describe the main theoretical approaches developed to model microswimming in viscoelastic fluids, which typically rely on asymptotically-small dimensionless parameters. We then summarise recent progress on the mobility of single cells propelled by cilia, waving flagella and rotating helical flagella in unbounded viscoelastic fluids. We next briefly discuss the impact of other physical factors, including the micro-scale heterogeneity of complex biological fluids, the role of Brownian fluctuations of the microswimmers, the effect of polymer entanglement and the influence of shear-thinning viscosity. In particular, for solution of long polymer chains whose sizes are comparable to the radius of flagella, continuum models cannot be used and instead Brownian Dynamics for the polymers can predict the swimming dynamics. Finally, we discuss the effect of viscoelasticity on the dynamics of microswimmers in the presence of surfaces or external flows and its impact on collective cellular behavior.

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Viscoelastic propulsion of a rotating dumbbell

Cited by 24 publications

References 53 publications

Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids

Symmetry breaking propulsion of magnetic microspheres in nonlinearly viscoelastic fluids

Swimming with swirl in a viscoelastic fluid

Microswimming in viscoelastic fluids

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