Theoretical Physics of Living Matter, Institute of Biological Information Processing and Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
Aircraft and Propulsion Laboratory, Ningbo Institute of Technology, Beihang University, Ningbo 315100, People's Republic of China.
J R Soc Interface. 2023 Feb;20(199):20220667. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0667. Epub 2023 Feb 8.
Clustering of flagellated microswimmers such as sperm is often mediated by hydrodynamic interactions between them. To better understand the interaction of microswimmers in viscoelastic fluids, we perform two-dimensional simulations of two swimming sheets, using a viscoelastic version of the smoothed dissipative particle dynamics method that implements the Oldroyd-B fluid model. Elasticity of sheets (stiff versus soft) defines two qualitatively different regimes of clustering, where stiff sheets exhibit a much more robust clustering than soft sheets. A formed doublet of soft sheets generally swims faster than a single swimmer, while a pair of two stiff sheets normally shows no speed enhancement after clustering. A pair of two identical swimmers is stable for most conditions, while differences in the beating amplitudes and/or frequencies between the two sheets can destroy the doublet stability. Clustering of two distinct swimmers is most stable at Deborah numbers of De = ≈ 1 ( is the relaxation time of a viscoelastic fluid and is the beating frequency), in agreement with experimental observations. Therefore, the clustering of two swimmers depends non-monotonically on De. Our results suggest that the cluster stability is likely a dominant factor which determines the cluster size of collectively moving flagellated swimmers.
鞭毛微游泳者(如精子)的聚集通常是通过它们之间的水动力相互作用介导的。为了更好地理解微游泳者在粘弹性流体中的相互作用,我们使用实现 Oldroyd-B 流体模型的粘性耗散粒子动力学方法的粘性版本对两个游动片进行二维模拟。片的弹性(硬与软)定义了两种定性不同的聚集状态,其中硬片比软片表现出更稳健的聚集。一对软片通常比单个游泳者游得更快,而一对硬片在聚集后通常不会增强速度。一对相同的游泳者在大多数情况下是稳定的,而两个片之间的拍打幅度和/或频率的差异可能会破坏双联体的稳定性。在 De ≈ 1(是粘弹性流体的松弛时间,是拍打频率)的情况下,两个不同游泳者的聚集最稳定,这与实验观察结果一致。因此,两个游泳者的聚集是非单调地依赖于 De 的。我们的结果表明,簇的稳定性很可能是决定集体运动鞭毛游泳者的簇大小的主要因素。