A finite element method for simulating soft active non-shearable rods immersed in generalized Newtonian fluids

TL;DR

This paper introduces a finite element method for simulating active, deformable rods immersed in generalized Newtonian fluids, with applications in soft bio-matter and microscopic devices, including complex dynamic behaviors.

Contribution

It develops a novel finite element approach for active Cosserat rods in non-Newtonian fluids, incorporating time-dependent strain energy and detailed numerical schemes.

Findings

Successfully simulates rod roll-up and release

Models active self-locomotion of sperm-like rods

Demonstrates effectiveness of semi-implicit time scheme

Abstract

We propose a finite element method for simulating one-dimensional solid models moving and experiencing large deformations while immersed in generalized Newtonian fluids. The method is oriented towards applications involving microscopic devices or organisms in the soft-bio-matter realm. By considering that the strain energy of the solid may explicitly depend on time, we incorporate a mechanism for active response. The solids are modeled as Cosserat rods, a detailed formulation being provided for the special case of a planar non-shearable rod. The discretization adopts one-dimensional Hermite elements for the rod and low-order Lagrange two-dimensional elements for the fluid's velocity and pressure. The fluid mesh is boundary-fitted, with remeshing at each time step. Several time marching schemes are studied, of which a semi-implicit scheme emerges as most effective. The method is demonstrated in very challenging examples: the roll-up of a rod to circular shape and later sudden release, the interaction of a soft rod with a fluid jet and the active self-locomotion of a sperm-like rod. The article includes a detailed description of a code that implements the method in the Firedrake library.