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Cargo carrying with an inertial squirmer in a Newtonian fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2023

Zhenyu Ouyang Open the ORCID record for Zhenyu Ouyang [Opens in a new window] ,
Zhaowu Lin ,
Jianzhong Lin Open the ORCID record for Jianzhong Lin [Opens in a new window] ,
Zhaosheng Yu Open the ORCID record for Zhaosheng Yu [Opens in a new window]  and
Nhan Phan-Thien
Zhenyu Ouyang
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center for the Safety of Pressure Vessel and Pipeline, Ningbo University, 315201 Ningbo, PR China
Zhaowu Lin
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanics, State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, 310027 Hangzhou, PR China
Jianzhong Lin*
Affiliation:
Zhejiang Provincial Engineering Research Center for the Safety of Pressure Vessel and Pipeline, Ningbo University, 315201 Ningbo, PR China
Zhaosheng Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanics, State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, 310027 Hangzhou, PR China
Nhan Phan-Thien
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117575 Singapore
*
†Email address for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

We numerically investigate the hydrodynamics of a spherical swimmer carrying a rigid cargo in a Newtonian fluid. This swimmer model, a ‘squirmer’, which is self-propelled by generating tangential surface waves, is simulated by a direct-forcing fictitious domain method (DF-FDM). We consider the effects of swimming Reynolds numbers (Re) (based on the radius and the swimming speed of the squirmers), the assembly models (related to the cargo shapes, the relative distances (ds) and positions between the squirmer and the cargo) on the assembly's locomotion. We find that the ‘pusher-cargo’ (pusher behind the cargo) model swims significantly faster than the remaining three models at the finite Re adopted in this study; the term ‘pusher’ indicates that the object is propelled from the rear, as opposed to ‘puller’, from the front. Both the ‘pusher-cargo’ and ‘cargo-pusher’ (pusher in front of the cargo) assemblies with an oblate cargo swim faster than the corresponding assemblies with a spherical or prolate cargo. In addition, the pusher-cargo model is significantly more efficient than the other models, and a larger ds yields a smaller carrying hydrodynamic efficiency η for the pusher-cargo model, but a greater η for the cargo-pusher model. We also illustrate the assembly swimming stability, finding that the ‘puller-cargo’ (puller behind the cargo) model is stable more than the ‘cargo-puller’ (puller in front of the cargo) model, and the assembly with a larger ds yields more unstable swimming.

JFM classification

Multiphase and Particle-laden Flows: Particle/fluid flow
Type
JFM Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 959 , 25 March 2023 , A25
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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