Locomotion on a lubricating fluid with spatial viscosity variations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Kanazawa, Takahiro, Ishimoto, Kenta
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Kanazawa, Takahiro
Ishimoto, Kenta
author_facet Kanazawa, Takahiro
Ishimoto, Kenta
contents We studied locomotion of a crawler on a thin Newtonian fluid film whose viscosity varied spatially. We first derived a general locomotion velocity formula with fluid viscosity variations via the lubrication theory. For further analysis, the surface of the crawler was described by a combination of transverse and longitudinal travelling waves and we analysed the time-averaged locomotion behaviours under two scenarios: (i) a sharp viscosity interface and (ii) a linear viscosity gradient. Using the asymptotic expansions of small surface deformations and the method of multiple time-scale analysis, we derived an explicit form of the average velocity that captures nonlinear, accumulative interactions between the crawler and the spatially varying environment. (i) In the case of a viscosity interface, the time-averaged speed of the crawler is always slower than that in the uniform viscosity, for both the transverse and longitudinal wave cases. Notably, the speed reduction is most significant when the crawler's front enters a more viscous layer and the crawler's rear exits from the same layer. (ii) In the case of a viscosity gradient, the crawler's speed becomes slower for the transverse wave, while for the longitudinal wave, the corrections are of a higher order compared with the uniform viscosity case. As an application of the derived locomotion velocity formula, we also analysed the impacts of a substrate topography to the average speed. Our analysis illustrates the fundamental importance of interactions between a locomotor and its environment, and separating the time scale behind the locomotion.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15656
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Locomotion on a lubricating fluid with spatial viscosity variations
Kanazawa, Takahiro
Ishimoto, Kenta
Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
We studied locomotion of a crawler on a thin Newtonian fluid film whose viscosity varied spatially. We first derived a general locomotion velocity formula with fluid viscosity variations via the lubrication theory. For further analysis, the surface of the crawler was described by a combination of transverse and longitudinal travelling waves and we analysed the time-averaged locomotion behaviours under two scenarios: (i) a sharp viscosity interface and (ii) a linear viscosity gradient. Using the asymptotic expansions of small surface deformations and the method of multiple time-scale analysis, we derived an explicit form of the average velocity that captures nonlinear, accumulative interactions between the crawler and the spatially varying environment. (i) In the case of a viscosity interface, the time-averaged speed of the crawler is always slower than that in the uniform viscosity, for both the transverse and longitudinal wave cases. Notably, the speed reduction is most significant when the crawler's front enters a more viscous layer and the crawler's rear exits from the same layer. (ii) In the case of a viscosity gradient, the crawler's speed becomes slower for the transverse wave, while for the longitudinal wave, the corrections are of a higher order compared with the uniform viscosity case. As an application of the derived locomotion velocity formula, we also analysed the impacts of a substrate topography to the average speed. Our analysis illustrates the fundamental importance of interactions between a locomotor and its environment, and separating the time scale behind the locomotion.
title Locomotion on a lubricating fluid with spatial viscosity variations
topic Fluid Dynamics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15656