Enhanced motility of a microswimmer in rigid and elastic confinement

TL;DR

This paper investigates how rigid and elastic boundaries influence microswimmer motility, revealing that flexible boundaries can enhance swimming speed depending on specific physical parameters.

Contribution

The study introduces a model analyzing the impact of boundary elasticity on microswimmer velocity, highlighting the role of boundary deformation in motility enhancement.

Findings

Flexible boundaries increase swimmer velocity.

Velocity enhancement depends on elastic and advection timescales.

Both extensile and contractile swimmers benefit from confinement.

Abstract

We analyse the effect of confining rigid and elastic boundaries on the motility of a model dipolar microswimmer. Flexible boundaries are deformed by the velocity field of the swimmer in such a way that the motility of both extensile and contractile swimmers is enhanced. The magnitude of the increase in swimming velocity is controlled by the ratio of the swimmer-advection and elastic timescales, and the dipole moment of the swimmer. We explain our results by considering swimming between inclined rigid boundaries.