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Fluids
Article . 2022 . Peer-reviewed
License: CC BY
Data sources: Crossref
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Fluids
Article . 2022
Data sources: DOAJ
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Performance of a Helical Microswimmer Traversing a Discrete Viscoelastic Network with Dynamic Remodeling

Authors: Rudi Schuech; Ricardo Cortez; Lisa Fauci;

Performance of a Helical Microswimmer Traversing a Discrete Viscoelastic Network with Dynamic Remodeling

Abstract

Microorganisms often navigate a complex environment composed of a viscous fluid with suspended microstructures such as elastic polymers and filamentous networks. These microstructures can have similar length scales to the microorganisms, leading to complex swimming dynamics. Some microorganisms secrete enzymes that dynamically change the elastic properties of the viscoelastic networks through which they move. In addition to biological organisms, microrobots have been engineered with the goals of mucin gel penetration or dissolving blood clots. In order to gain insight into the coupling between swimming performance and network remodeling, we used a regularized Stokeslet boundary element method to compute the motion of a microswimmer consisting of a rotating spherical body and counter-rotating helical flagellum. The viscoelastic network is represented by a network of points connected by virtual elastic linkages immersed in a viscous fluid. Here, we model the enzymatic dissolution of the network by bacteria or microrobots by dynamically breaking elastic linkages when the cell body of the swimmer falls within a given distance from the link. We investigate the swimming performance of the microbes as they penetrate and move through networks of different material properties, and also examine the effect of network remodeling.

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Keywords

QC120-168.85, microorganism motility, Descriptive and experimental mechanics, Thermodynamics, Stokes flow, QC310.15-319, low Reynolds number flows, viscoelasticity

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
9
Top 10%
Average
Top 10%
gold