Wall curvature driven dynamics of a microswimmer

TL;DR

This study investigates how wall curvature influences the movement of microswimmers, using simulations and theory to analyze their interactions with various boundary shapes, providing insights for microfluidic control.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive analysis of microswimmer dynamics near curved boundaries, integrating hydrodynamic interactions for different swimmer types in a unified framework.

Findings

Microswimmers prefer concave boundaries due to hydrodynamics.

Pullers show greater affinity to convex walls with repulsive interactions.

The study informs design of microfluidic geometries for controlling microswimmer motion.

Abstract

Microorganisms navigate through fluid, often confined by complex environments, to survive and sustain life. Inspired by this fact, we consider a model system and seek to understand the wall curvature driven dynamics of a squirmer, a mathematical model for a microswimmer, using (i) lattice Boltzmann simulations and (ii) analytical theory by \citet{dario_gareth}. The instantaneous dynamics of the system is presented in terms of fluid velocity fields, and the translational and angular velocities of the microswimmer, whereas the long time dynamics is presented by plotting the squirmer trajectories near curved boundaries in physical and dynamical space, as well as characterising them in terms of (i) proximity parameter, (ii) retention time, (iii) swimmer orientation and (iv) tangential velocity near the boundary, and (v) scattering angle during the collision. Our detailed analysis shows that irrespective of the type and strength, microswimmers exhibit a greater affinity towards a concave boundary due to hydrodynamic interactions compared to a convex boundary. In the presence of additional repulsive interactions with the boundary, we find that pullers (propel by forward thrust) have a slightly greater affinity towards the convex--curved walls compared to pushers (propel by backward thrust). Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of the consequence of hydrodynamic interactions in a unified framework that encompasses the dynamics of pullers, pushers, and neutral swimmers in the neighbourhood of flat, concave, and convex walls. In addition, the combined effect of oppositely curved surfaces is studied by confining the squirmer in an annulus. The results presented in a unified framework and insights obtained are expected to be useful to design geometrical confinements to control and guide the motion of microswimmers in microfluidic applications.