Experimental characterization of helical swimming trajectories in circular channels

Hakan Osman Caldag; Alperen Acemoglu; Serhat Yesilyurt

doi:10.1007/s10404-017-1973-9

Experimental characterization of helical swimming trajectories in circular channels

Hakan Osman Caldag, Alperen Acemoglu, Serhat Yesilyurt

Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Trajectories of microorganisms and artificial helical swimmers in confinements are important in biology and for controlled swimming in medical applications. Numerical studies on the locomotion of model microorganisms and spherical particles are reported in the literature. Here, we report experimental results on the trajectories and velocities of artificial helical swimmers in circular channels. Trajectories are recorded by a digital camera and images are processed to obtain the radial position and the orientation of the swimmer. Tail length, channel diameter, rotation frequency and the rate of the Poiseuille flow are varied in the experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that confinement and flow affect the orientation of swimmer and the swimming performance. Swimmers follow stable helical trajectories in the forward direction when the tail pushes the swimmer. However, when the tail pulls the swimmer in the backward direction trajectories converge to a straight line in the narrow channel, whereas helical trajectories are observed for pullers as well in the wide channel.

Original language	English
Article number	136
Number of pages	13
Journal	MICROFLUIDICS AND NANOFLUIDICS
Volume	21
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-017-1973-9
Publication status	Published - 28 Jul 2017

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10.1007/s10404-017-1973-9

Cite this

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title = "Experimental characterization of helical swimming trajectories in circular channels",

abstract = "Trajectories of microorganisms and artificial helical swimmers in confinements are important in biology and for controlled swimming in medical applications. Numerical studies on the locomotion of model microorganisms and spherical particles are reported in the literature. Here, we report experimental results on the trajectories and velocities of artificial helical swimmers in circular channels. Trajectories are recorded by a digital camera and images are processed to obtain the radial position and the orientation of the swimmer. Tail length, channel diameter, rotation frequency and the rate of the Poiseuille flow are varied in the experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that confinement and flow affect the orientation of swimmer and the swimming performance. Swimmers follow stable helical trajectories in the forward direction when the tail pushes the swimmer. However, when the tail pulls the swimmer in the backward direction trajectories converge to a straight line in the narrow channel, whereas helical trajectories are observed for pullers as well in the wide channel.",

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AU - Caldag, Hakan Osman

AU - Acemoglu, Alperen

AU - Yesilyurt, Serhat

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AB - Trajectories of microorganisms and artificial helical swimmers in confinements are important in biology and for controlled swimming in medical applications. Numerical studies on the locomotion of model microorganisms and spherical particles are reported in the literature. Here, we report experimental results on the trajectories and velocities of artificial helical swimmers in circular channels. Trajectories are recorded by a digital camera and images are processed to obtain the radial position and the orientation of the swimmer. Tail length, channel diameter, rotation frequency and the rate of the Poiseuille flow are varied in the experiments. Experimental results demonstrate that confinement and flow affect the orientation of swimmer and the swimming performance. Swimmers follow stable helical trajectories in the forward direction when the tail pushes the swimmer. However, when the tail pulls the swimmer in the backward direction trajectories converge to a straight line in the narrow channel, whereas helical trajectories are observed for pullers as well in the wide channel.

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