Effects of Flagellar Morphology on Swimming Performance and Directional Control in Microswimmers

TL;DR

This study investigates how the shape and structure of flagella affect the swimming ability and control of microswimmers, revealing key morphological factors that optimize speed and efficiency for potential microrobot design.

Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive simulation framework linking flagellar morphology to swimming performance, offering new insights for designing efficient microswimmers and microrobots.

Findings

Speed and efficiency depend on flagella radius, pitch angle, and length.

Yaw angle is influenced by helix radius and length.

Optimal pitch angles differ for maximum speed and efficiency.

Abstract

In a fluid environment, flagellated microswimmers propel themselves by rotating their flagella. The morphology of these flagella significantly influences forward speed, swimming efficiency, and directional stability, which are critical for their survival. This study begins by simulating the three-dimensional motion trajectories of microswimmers to analyze their kinematic characteristics. The simulation results demonstrate that microswimmers can actively adjust their forward direction by modifying the orientation of their flagella. We subsequently perform numerical simulations to visualize the flow fields generated by a microswimmer and examine the hydrodynamic interactions between the cell body and the flagella, focusing on their impacts on forward speed and swimming efficiency. We conclude that forward speed and swimming efficiency are closely related to the filament radius, pitch angle, and contour length of the flagella, while the yaw angle of locomotion is determined by the helix radius and contour length of the flagella. We conclude that the pitch angle for maximum forward speed is slightly smaller than that for maximum swimming efficiency, which suggests that microswimmers can effectively alternate between states of maximum forward speed and maximum swimming efficiency by fine-tuning their pitch angle and adapting to varying ecological conditions. These morphological characteristics of microswimmers may result from species competition and natural selection. This research establishes an optimized model for microswimmers, providing valuable insights for the design of enhanced microrobots tailored to specific applications.