Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 52: Poster: Active Matter, Microswimmer, Microfluidics
DY 52.6: Poster
Thursday, April 4, 2019, 15:00–18:00, Poster B2
Validity of the low Reynolds number approximation for collective microswimmer hydrodynamics — •Jan Cammann1, Jörn Dunkel2, Jonasz Słomka3, and Michael Wilczek1 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization — 2Department of Mathematics Massachusetts Institute of Technology — 3ETH Zürich
Microswimmers, such as bacteria, sperm cells and motile algae, are typically found in regimes where the relevant length and velocity scales allow their hydrodynamic interactions to be studied in the limit of low Reynolds numbers (Re). This simplifies the Navier-Stokes to the Stokes equation. In this approximation inertial effects are completely neglected. For individual swimmers this approximation is known to work well, whereas for large numbers of swimmers the hydrodynamic flows produced by the individuals may interfere constructively to produce higher local values of Re. Using a combination of analytical and numerical approaches, we study the dependence of the local Reynolds number on different configurations of microswimmers modeled as extended point force dipoles acting upon the fluid. Thus, we explore the limits of low Re approximations and whether inertial effects become relevant for the collective hydrodynamics of dense microswimmer suspensions.