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4 - The Squirmer Model

from Part One - Fundamentals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2020

Eric Lauga
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

This fourth chapter introduces the second canonical model of low Reynolds number swimming, namely that of the squirming sphere. Originally proposed by Lighthill (1952), and later extended by Blake (1971), this model is a variation of the waving sheet adapted to a finite-size swimmer. Here, the surface of a spherical body undergoes periodic small-amplitude deformations, leading to instantaneous velocity boundary conditions applied on an effective spherical frame. Since Lighthill's original paper, the squirmer model has been used and extended in a variety of setups, in particular to provide an alternative envelope model of the metachronal waves of cilia for finite-size organisms. We first derive the classical swimming squirmer model for a translating swimmer before discussing its extension to rotational motion. We then show how to link the motion of points on the surface of a deformable sphere described in a Lagrangian fashion to the squirmer model written naturally in an Eulerian framework. We finish by comparing the results of the model with flow measurements around the flagellated green alga Volvox.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Squirmer Model
  • Eric Lauga, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Fluid Dynamics of Cell Motility
  • Online publication: 09 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316796047.006
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  • The Squirmer Model
  • Eric Lauga, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Fluid Dynamics of Cell Motility
  • Online publication: 09 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316796047.006
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Squirmer Model
  • Eric Lauga, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Fluid Dynamics of Cell Motility
  • Online publication: 09 September 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316796047.006
Available formats
×