Three-Sphere Low Reynolds Number Swimmer with a Cargo Container

Abstract

A recently introduced model for an autonomous swimmer at low Reynolds number that is comprised of three spheres connected by two arms is considered when one of the spheres has a large radius. The Stokes hydrodynamic flow associated with the swimming strokes and net motion of this system can be studied analytically using the Stokes Green's function of a point force in front of a sphere of arbitrary radius $R$ provided by Oseen. The swimming velocity is calculated, and shown to scale as $1/R^3$ with the radius of the sphere.

4 pages, 1 figure

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Cited by in corpus (5)

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• A simple self-organized swimmer driven by molecular motors