Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T17:30:38.730Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A regularised slender-body theory of non-uniform filaments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2020

B. J. Walker*
Affiliation:
Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, OxfordOX2 6GG, UK
M. P. Curtis
Affiliation:
Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, OxfordOX2 6GG, UK Hampton School, Hanworth Road, Hampton, MiddlesexTW12 3HD, UK
K. Ishimoto
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto606-8502, Japan
E. A. Gaffney
Affiliation:
Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, OxfordOX2 6GG, UK
*
Email address for correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

Resolving the detailed hydrodynamics of a slender body immersed in highly viscous Newtonian fluid has been the subject of extensive research, applicable to a broad range of biological and physical scenarios. In this work, we expand upon classical theories developed over the past fifty years, deriving an algebraically accurate slender-body theory that may be applied to a wide variety of body shapes, ranging from biologically inspired tapering flagella to highly oscillatory body geometries with only weak constraints, most significantly requiring that cross-sections be circular. Inspired by well known analytic results for the flow around a prolate ellipsoid, we pose an ansatz for the velocity field in terms of a regular integral of regularised Stokes-flow singularities with prescribed, spatially varying regularisation parameters. A detailed asymptotic analysis is presented, seeking a uniformly valid expansion of the ansatz integral, accurate at leading algebraic order in the geometry aspect ratio, to enforce no-slip boundary conditions and thus analytically justify the slender-body theory developed in this framework. The regularisation within the ansatz additionally affords significant computational simplicity for the subsequent slender-body theory, with no specialised quadrature or numerical techniques required to evaluate the regular integral. Furthermore, in the special case of slender bodies with a straight centreline in uniform flow, we derive a slender-body theory that is particularly straightforward via use of the analytic solution for a prolate ellipsoid. We evidence the validity of our simple theory with explicit numerical examples for a wide variety of slender bodies, and highlight a potential robustness of our methodology beyond its rigorously justified scope.

Type
JFM Papers
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ainley, J., Durkin, S., Embid, R., Boindala, P. & Cortez, R. 2008 The method of images for regularized Stokeslets. J. Comput. Phys. 227 (9), 46004616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antman, S. S. 2005 Nonlinear Problems of Elasticity, Applied Mathematical Sciences, vol. 107. Springer.Google Scholar
Bender, C. M. & Orszag, S. A. 1999 Advanced Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers I. Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borker, N. S. & Koch, D. L. 2019 Slender body theory for particles with non-circular cross-sections with application to particle dynamics in shear flows. J. Fluid Mech. 877, 10981133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chwang, A. T. & Wu, T. Y. T. 1975 Hydromechanics of low-Reynolds-number flow. Part 2. Singularity method for Stokes flows. J. Fluid Mech. 67 (04), 787815.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortez, R. 2001 The method of regularized stokeslets. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 23 (4), 12041225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortez, R., Fauci, L. & Medovikov, A. 2005 The method of regularized Stokeslets in three dimensions: analysis, validation, and application to helical swimming. Phys. Fluids 17 (3), 031504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortez, R. & Nicholas, M. 2012 Slender body theory for Stokes flows with regularized forces. Comm. App. Math. Comp. Sci. 7 (1), 3362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, R. G. 1970 The motion of long slender bodies in a viscous fluid. Part 1. General theory. J. Fluid Mech. 44 (04), 791810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, J. M. & Woodall, P. F. 1985 On mammalian sperm dimensions. J. Reprod. Fertil. 75 (1), 153175.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fawcett, D. W. 1970 A comparative view of sperm ultrastructure. Biol. Reprod. Suppl. 2, 90127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillies, E. A., Cannon, R. M., Green, R. B. & Pacey, A. A. 2009 Hydrodynamic propulsion of human sperm. J. Fluid Mech. 625, 445474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, J. & Hancock, G. J. 1955 The propulsion of sea-urchin spermatozoa. J. Expl. Biol. 32 (4), 802814.Google Scholar
Guglielmini, L., Kushwaha, A., Shaqfeh, E. S. G. & Stone, H. A. 2012 Buckling transitions of an elastic filament in a viscous stagnation point flow. Phys. Fluids 24 (12), 123601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, G. J. 1953 The self-propulsion of microscopic organisms through liquids. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 217 (1128), 96121.Google Scholar
Ishimoto, K. & Gaffney, E. A. 2018 An elastohydrodynamical simulation study of filament and spermatozoan swimming driven by internal couples. IMA J. Appl. Math. 83 (4), 655679.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, R. E. 1980 An improved slender-body theory for Stokes flow. J. Fluid Mech. 99 (02), 411431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keaveny, E. E & Shelley, M. J. 2011 Applying a second-kind boundary integral equation for surface tractions in Stokes flow. J. Comput. Phys. 230 (5), 21412159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, J. B. & Rubinow, S. I. 1976 Slender-body theory for slow viscous flow. J. Fluid Mech. 75 (04), 705714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koens, L. & Lauga, E. 2016 Slender-ribbon theory. Phys. Fluids 28 (1), 013101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lighthill, J. 1976 Flagellar hydrodynamics. SIAM Rev. 18 (2), 161230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olson, S. D., Lim, S. & Cortez, R. 2013 Modeling the dynamics of an elastic rod with intrinsic curvature and twist using a regularized Stokes formulation. J. Comput. Phys. 238, 169187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pozrikidis, C. 2002 A Practical Guide to Boundary Element Methods with the Software Library BEMLIB. CRC Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roper, M., Dreyfus, R., Baudry, J., Fermigier, M., Bibette, J. & Stone, H. A. 2006 On the dynamics of magnetically driven elastic filaments. J. Fluid Mech. 554, 167190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shelley, M. J. & Ueda, T. 2000 The Stokesian hydrodynamics of flexing, stretching filaments. Physica D 146 (1–4), 221245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. J., Gaffney, E. A., Blake, J. R. & Kirkman-Brown, J. C. 2009 Human sperm accumulation near surfaces: a simulation study. J. Fluid Mech. 621, 289320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tornberg, A. K. & Shelley, M. J. 2004 Simulating the dynamics and interactions of flexible fibers in Stokes flows. J. Comput. Phys. 196 (1), 840.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, B. J., Wheeler, R. J., Ishimoto, K. & Gaffney, E. A. 2019 Boundary behaviours of Leishmania mexicana: a hydrodynamic simulation study. J. Theor. Biol. 462, 311320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, B., Lauga, E. & Koens, L. 2019 Method of regularized stokeslets: flow analysis and improvement of convergence. Phys. Rev. Fluids 4 (8), 084104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar