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Geometry of self-propulsion at low Reynolds number

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2006

Alfred Shapere  and
Frank Wilczek
Alfred Shapere
Affiliation:
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
Frank Wilczek
Affiliation:
Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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Abstract

The problem of swimming at low Reynolds number is formulated in terms of a gauge field on the space of shapes. Effective methods for computing this field, by solving a linear boundary-value problem, are described. We employ conformal-mapping techniques to calculate swimming motions for cylinders with a variety of crosssections. We also determine the net translationl motion due to arbitrary infinitesimal deformations of a sphere.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 198 , January 1989 , pp. 557 - 585
Copyright
1989 Cambridge University Press

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