Microscale swimming: The molecular dynamics approach

TL;DR

This paper uses molecular dynamics simulations to explore how various microscale swimming designs and propulsion methods affect efficiency and flow fields, providing detailed insights into microscopic swimming mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces an atomistic simulation approach to analyze diverse microscale swimming strategies and their fluid interactions, which was not extensively studied before.

Findings

Different propulsion mechanisms lead to varied swimming efficiencies.

Flow fields induced by swimmers are highly dependent on design and propulsion method.

The atomistic approach allows detailed analysis of swimmer-fluid interactions.

Abstract

The self-propelled motion of microscopic bodies immersed in a fluid medium is studied using molecular dynamics simulation. The advantage of the atomistic approach is that the detailed level of description allows complete freedom in specifying the swimmer design and its coupling with the surrounding fluid. A series of two-dimensional swimming bodies employing a variety of propulsion mechanisms -- motivated by biological and microrobotic designs -- is investigated, including the use of moving limbs, changing body shapes and fluid jets. The swimming efficiency and the nature of the induced, time-dependent flow fields are found to differ widely among body designs and propulsion mechanisms.