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SUMMARY:Dynamics of a model microorganism in viscoelastic liquids - Marco 
 De Corato (Imperial College)
DTSTART:20171012T120000Z
DTEND:20171012T130000Z
UID:TALK86941@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julius Bier Kirkegaard
DESCRIPTION:The locomotion of organisms in Newtonian fluids at low-Reynold
 s numbers\ndisplays very different features from that at large Reynolds nu
 mbers. In this\nregime\, the viscous forces are dominant over the inertial
  ones and propulsion is\npossible only with non-time-reversible swimming s
 trokes. In many situations\nof biological interest\, however\, small organ
 isms are propelling themselves\nthrough non-Newtonian fluids such as mucus
 \, biofilms or bio-polymer\nsuspensions\, all of which display highly visc
 oelastic properties. We\ninvestigated the effects of fluid viscoelasticity
  on the swimming velocity of a\nmicroorganism and on its dynamics in exter
 nal flows. In our analysis\, we\nemployed the so called ``squirmer'' model
  to study the motion of spherical\nciliated organisms in a viscoelastic fl
 uid. We first considered the motion of\nsquirmers in quiescent viscoelasti
 c fluids. Subsequently\, we studied their\ndynamics in viscoelastic fluids
  with an imposed shear flow at infinity. Our\nresults reveal that the coup
 ling of self-propulsion and fluid viscoelasticity is\nresponsible for a qu
 alitatively different behaviour compared to that expected\nfor a squirmer 
 in a Newtonian fluid. Interestingly\, it is found that squirmers\nsuspende
 d in sheared viscoelastic fluids attain a preferential swimming\ndirection
 \, which depends on their propulsion type (e.g. pusher\, puller or\nneutra
 l).
LOCATION:MR11\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Camb
 ridge
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