Swimming microorganisms in complex fluids
Thomas Powers (Brown University)
Hydrodynamics of Swimming Microorganisms
Tue 4:20 - 5:40
Barus-Holley 191
Swimming microorganisms commonly encounter non-Newtonian fluids such as mucus. In this talk I describe our work on swimming helices in polymeric liquids, in which we use theory, computation, and scale-model experiments to determine how the swimming speed of a rotating helical filament depends on frequency, polymer relaxation time, filament radius, and helical geometry. I also report on our more recent work on swimming in anisotropic fluids and near flexible boundaries.