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SUMMARY:A hybrid computational approach for swimming in shear-thinning and
  viscoelastic fluids - Cara Neal\, University of Liverpool
DTSTART:20231207T130000Z
DTEND:20231207T140000Z
UID:TALK205822@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lloyd Fung
DESCRIPTION:The locomotion of microswimmers in non-Newtonian fluids is of 
 crucial importance in many biological processes including infection\, fert
 ilisation\, and biofilm formation. The behaviour of microswimmers in these
  media remains an area with many conflicting results\, with swimmers displ
 aying varying responses depending on their precise morphology\, propulsive
  mechanisms\, and elastic properties\, as well as the complex characterist
 ics of the surrounding fluid. We numerically investigate the effect of mul
 tiple non-Newtonian fluid properties on microswimmer propulsion. Firstly\,
  we explore the influence of shear-thinning rheology on planar sperm-like 
 swimmers. This is achieved through a novel hybrid computational approach t
 hat utilises known Newtonian solution techniques (The Method of Regularise
 d Stokeslets\, Cortez 2001) to approximate the rapidly varying flow surrou
 nding a swimmer\, with a non-Newtonian correction term obtained through so
 lving using the finite element method. Modelling also the elasticity of th
 e flagellum\, we demonstrate that shear-thinning rheology can either enhan
 ce or hinder propulsion of sperm cells\, depending on a balance of elastic
  and viscous forces as well as fluid properties. Following this\, we outli
 ne how the hybrid approach can further be used to solve swimming problems 
 in fluids exhibiting both shear-thinning and viscoelastic properties. We i
 nvestigate how both fluid effects influence the swimming speed and efficie
 ncy of a simple conceptual three-sphere swimmer\, and also discuss extensi
 ons of this model for problems involving helical bacterial locomotion.
LOCATION:MR12\,  Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Cam
 bridge
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