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This article describes the unsteady translational motion of a porous sphere with slip-surface in a quiescent viscous fluid. Apart from its radius a and density ρs , the particle is characterized by its permeability parameter γ , slip-length l and effective viscosity-ratio ϵ for interior flow. The Reynolds number for the system is assumed to be small leading to negligible convective contribution, though the transient inertia for both the liquid and the solid is comparable to viscous forces. The resulting linearized but unsteady flow-equations for both inside and outside the porous domain are solved in time-invariant frequency domain by satisfying appropriate boundary conditions. The analysis ultimately renders frequency-dependent hydrodynamic friction for the suspended body. The frictional coefficient is computed under both low and high frequency limit for different values of γ, l and ϵ so that the findings can be compared to known results with impermeable surface. Moreover, the parametric exploration shows that the sphere acts like a no-slip body even with non-zero l if aγ ≫ 1/√ϵ . Scaling arguments from a novel boundary layer theory for flow inside porous media near interfaces explain this rather unexpected observation. Also, computed fluid resistance is incorporated in equation of motion for the particle to determine its time-dependent velocity response to a force impulse. This transient response shows wide variability with ρs, γ, l and ϵ insinuating the significance of the presented study. Consequently, the paper concludes that slip and permeability should be viewed as crucial features of submicron particles if unexpected variability is to be explained in nano-scale phenomena like nano-fluidic heat conduction or viral transmission. Thus, the theory and findings in this paper will be immensely useful in modeling of nano-particle dynamics.

This article describes the unsteady translational motion of a porous sphere with slip-surface in a quiescent viscous fluid. Apart from its radius a and density ρs, the particle is characterized by its permeability parameter γ, slip-length l and effective viscosity-ratio ϵ for interior flow. The Reynolds number for the system is assumed to be small leading to negligible convective contribution, though the transient inertia for both the liquid and the solid is comparable to viscous forces. The resulting linearized but unsteady flow-equations for both inside and outside the porous domain are solved in time-invariant frequency domain by satisfying appropriate boundary conditions. The analysis ultimately renders frequency-dependent hydrodynamic friction for the suspended body. The frictional coefficient is computed under both low and high frequency limit for different values of γ, l and ϵ so that the findings can be compared to known results with impermeable surface. Moreover, the parametric exploration shows that the sphere acts like a no-slip body even with non-zero l if aγ ≫ 1/√ϵ . Scaling arguments from a novel boundary layer theory for flow inside porous media near interfaces explain this rather unexpected observation. Also, computed fluid resistance is incorporated in equation of motion for the particle to determine its time-dependent velocity response to a force impulse. This transient response shows wide variability with ρs, γ, l and ϵ insinuating the significance of the presented study. Consequently, the paper concludes that slip and permeability should be viewed as crucial features of submicron particles if unexpected variability is to be explained in nano-scale phenomena like nano-fluidic heat conduction or viral transmission. Thus, the theory and findings in this paper will be immensely useful in modeling of nano-particle dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a process for estimating the retraction force of a pseudopodium of a radiolarian specimen using a video recording of its behavior. Specifically, we focused on the retraction of the axial projection, which is the longest and the thickest pseudopodium, using the video recording of the movement of the specimen towards the container bottom to which its axial projection tip had adhered. Our approach consisted of three steps: shape approximation using seventh-order polynomials, estimation of the movement speed, and numerical simulation of the fluid flow around an object with the same shape as the specimen. The retraction force was estimated to be approximately 2.22 x 10-10 N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration of helical particles in viscous shear flows plays a crucial role in chiral particle sorting. Attaching a nonchiral head to a helical particle leads to a rheotactic torque inducing particle reorientation. This phenomenon is responsible for bacterial rheotaxis observed for flagellated bacteria as Escherichia coli in shear flows. Here, we use a high-resolution microprinting technique to fabricate microparticles with controlled and tunable chiral shape consisting of a spherical head and helical tails of various pitch and handedness. By observing the fully time-resolved dynamics of these microparticles in microfluidic channel flow, we gain valuable insights into chiralityinduced orientation dynamics. Our experimental model system allows us to examine the effects of particle elongation, chirality, and head heaviness for different flow rates on the orientation dynamics, while minimizing the influence of Brownian noise. Through our model experiments, we demonstrate the existence of asymmetric bistability of the particle orientation perpendicular to the flow direction. We quantitatively explain the particle equilibrium orientations as a function of particle properties, initial conditions and flow rates, as well as the time-dependence of the reorientation dynamics through a theoretical model. The model parameters are determined using boundary element simulations, and excellent agreement with experiments is obtained without any adjustable parameters. Our findings lead to a better understanding of chiral particle transport and bacterial rheotaxis and might allow the development of targeted delivery applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the flow mechanism of feather-like rough airfoils based on swift wings, computational simulations were employed to explore their overall aerodynamic characteristics in comparison to equivalent smooth airfoils. The study focused on angles of attack ranging from 0° to 20° at low Reynolds numbers. The results reveal that the rough airfoil exhibits higher lift and lower drag compared to the smooth airfoil at moderate angles of attack ranging from 6° to 10°, resulting in significantly improved aerodynamic efficiency. Notably, at an angle of attack of 8°, the aerodynamic efficiency is increased by 19%. However, at angles of attack smaller than 6°, the increase in drag outweighs the increase in lift, leading to lower aerodynamic efficiency for the rough airfoil. Conversely, when the angle of attack exceeds 16°, both airfoils experience separated flow-dominated flow fields, resulting in comparable effective aerodynamic shapes and similar aerodynamic efficiencies. Furthermore, the study found that increasing the Reynolds number results in greater pressure differences in the flow field, leading to higher aerodynamic efficiency. These preliminary conclusions are valuable for elucidating the flight mechanisms of bird-feather-like wings and can inform the design or morphing design of bio-inspired micro aerial vehicles in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behaviour of microscopic swimmers has previously been explored near large-scale confining geometries and in the presence of very small-scale surface roughness. Here, we consider an intermediate case of how a simple microswimmer, the tangential spherical squirmer, behaves adjacent to singly and doubly periodic sinusoidal surface topographies that spatially oscillate with an amplitude that is an order of magnitude less than the swimmer size and wavelengths that are also within an order of magnitude of this scale. The nearest neighbour regularised Stokeslet method is used for numerical explorations after validating its accuracy for a spherical tangential squirmer that swims stably near a flat surface. The same squirmer is then introduced to different surface topographies. The key governing factor in the resulting swimming behaviour is the size of the squirmer relative to the surface topography wavelength. For instance, directional guidance is not observed when the squirmer is much larger, or much smaller, than the surface topography wavelength. In contrast, once the squirmer size is on the scale of the topography wavelength, limited guidance is possible, often with local capture in the topography troughs. However, complex dynamics can also emerge, especially when the initial configuration is not close to alignment along topography troughs or above topography crests. In contrast to sensitivity in alignment and topography wavelength, reductions in the amplitude of the surface topography or variations in the shape of the periodic surface topography do not have extensive impacts on the squirmer behaviour. Our findings more generally highlight that the numerical framework provides an essential basis to elucidate how swimmers may be guided by surface topography.

The flow structures and surface pressure distributions on corrugated airfoils significantly differed from those on a conventional, smooth airfoil. An unsteady, two-dimensional computational simulation was carried out to investigate the flow behavior and associated aerodynamic performance of a group of corrugated airfoils with different levels of waviness at angles of attack from 0° to 20° with an interval of 2° at a low Reynolds number regime (Re = 1.2 × 105) and were quantitatively compared with those of its smooth counterpart. Time-averaged aerodynamic coefficients demonstrated that the corrugated airfoils have a lower lift and higher drag because of trapped vortices in the corrugations. The pressure drag of the corrugated airfoils was greater than that of the smooth airfoil. In contrast, the viscous drag of the corrugated airfoils was smaller than that of the smooth airfoil because the recirculation generated in the corrugation could reduce the viscous drag. The averaged velocity gradient in the boundary layer showed that the thickness of the boundary layer increased significantly for the corrugated airfoils because of recirculating flow caused by the small-standing vortices trapped in the valley of corrugations. The smoother the corrugated surface, the closer the aerodynamic characteristics are to those of the smooth airfoil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the flow mechanism of feather-like rough airfoils based on swift wings, computational simulations were employed to explore their overall aerodynamic characteristics in comparison to equivalent smooth airfoils. The study focused on angles of attack ranging from 0° to 20° at low Reynolds numbers. The results reveal that the rough airfoil exhibits higher lift and lower drag compared to the smooth airfoil at moderate angles of attack ranging from 6° to 10°, resulting in significantly improved aerodynamic efficiency. Notably, at an angle of attack of 8°, the aerodynamic efficiency is increased by 19%. However, at angles of attack smaller than 6°, the increase in drag outweighs the increase in lift, leading to lower aerodynamic efficiency for the rough airfoil. Conversely, when the angle of attack exceeds 16°, both airfoils experience separated flow-dominated flow fields, resulting in comparable effective aerodynamic shapes and similar aerodynamic efficiencies. Furthermore, the study found that increasing the Reynolds number results in greater pressure differences in the flow field, leading to higher aerodynamic efficiency. These preliminary conclusions are valuable for elucidating the flight mechanisms of bird-feather-like wings and can inform the design or morphing design of bio-inspired micro aerial vehicles in the near future.

In this paper, a flexible rod type micro-swimmer is proposed which achieves swimming direction reversal on the fly by forming a chiral helix-like geometry through external magnetic excitation. Furthermore an accompanying low Reynolds number flow-structure interaction analysis framework is developed which effectively combines a geometrically non-linear shear deformable beam model with regularized Stokeslet method in a monolithic implicit solution algorithm. This framework is used to investigate the basic characteristics of the proposed micro-swimmer in terms of dimensionless groups reflecting the interplay between different forces involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flow structures and surface pressure distributions on corrugated airfoils significantly differed from those on a conventional, smooth airfoil. An unsteady, two-dimensional computational simulation was carried out to investigate the flow behavior and associated aerodynamic performance of a group of corrugated airfoils with different levels of waviness at angles of attack from 0° to 20° with an interval of 2° at a low Reynolds number regime (Re = 1.2 × 105) and were quantitatively compared with those of its smooth counterpart. Time-averaged aerodynamic coefficients demonstrated that the corrugated airfoils have a lower lift and higher drag because of trapped vortices in the corrugations. The pressure drag of the corrugated airfoils was greater than that of the smooth airfoil. In contrast, the viscous drag of the corrugated airfoils was smaller than that of the smooth airfoil because the recirculation generated in the corrugation could reduce the viscous drag. The averaged velocity gradient in the boundary layer showed that the thickness of the boundary layer increased significantly for the corrugated airfoils because of recirculating flow caused by the small-standing vortices trapped in the valley of corrugations. The smoother the corrugated surface, the closer the aerodynamic characteristics are to those of the smooth airfoil.

Some spiders aerially disperse relying on their fine fibres. This behaviour has been known as 'ballooning'. Observations on the ballooning behaviour of spiders have a long history and have more recently received special attention, yet its underlying physics is still poorly understood. It was traditionally believed that spiders rely on the airflows by atmospheric thermal convection to do ballooning. However, a recent experiment showed that exposure to an electric field alone can induce spiders' pre-ballooning behaviours (tiptoe and dropping/dangling) and even pulls them upwards in the air. The controversy between explanations of ballooning by aerodynamic flow or the earth's electric field has long existed. The major obstacle in studying the physics of ballooning is the fact that airflow and electric field are both invisible and our naked eyes can hardly recognise the ballooning silk fibres of spiders. This review explores the theory and evidence for the physical mechanisms of spiders' ballooning connects them to the behavioural physiology of spiders for ballooning. Knowledge gaps that need to be addressed in future studies are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most necessities of our age is undoubtfully to supply the ever-increasing energy demand. The world population is growing correspondingly with the developing technology and it causes more energy demand. Furthermore, when the fact that fossil fuel which is the most used energy source in the world in our age will inevitably come to an end is taken into consideration; the need to search for new energy sources has become an obligation. A piezoelectric effect is a crucial option that is used as a new energy conversion method and the researchers are trying to find ways to develop it. Thanks to their special molecular structure, the mechanical force applied to the piezoelectric materials creates an electric charge. In this way, the conversion of environmental vibrations into electrical energy can be achieved with piezoelectric materials. This experimental study aims to turn deformations and vibrational motions caused by the air on a flexible membrane wing into electrical energy thanks to piezoelectric materials. In this respect, a flexible membrane Zimmerman wing with a 1.5 aspect ratio was used. Smoke wire experiments were performed on the wing at 2.8x104 and 5.6x104 Reynolds numbers to capture and understand how the characteristics form of the flow over the flexible membrane surface is. Afterward, three different types of 4 piezoelectric materials were used over the flexible membrane wing and energy calculation was made over 470-ohm resistor at various Reynolds numbers and angles of attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the aerodynamic performance of four types of bird’s airfoils (eagle, stork, hawk, and albatross) at low Reynolds number and a range of angles of attack during fixed (unflapping) gliding flight was numerically investigated utilizing open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code Stanford University unstructured (SU2) and K-ω Shear Stress Transport (K-ω SST) turbulence model. The flow of the simulated cases was assumed to be incompressible, viscous, and steady. For verification and comparison, a low Reynolds number man-made Eppler 193’s airfoil was simulated. The results revealed that stork has the greatest aerodynamic efficiency followed by albatross and eagle. However, at zero angle of attack, the albatross aerodynamic efficiency exceeded all the other birds by a significant amount. In terms of aerodynamics efficiency, stork’s and albatross’s airfoils performed better than Eppler 193 at angles of attack less than 8°, while at a higher angle of attack all studied birds’ airfoils performed better than Eppler 193. The effect of surface permeability was also investigated for the eagle’s airfoil where the permeable surface occupied one-third of the total airfoil surface. Permeability increased the generated lift and the aerodynamic efficiency of the eagle’s airfoil for angles of attack less than 10°. The increase reached 58% for the lift at zero angle of attack. After the specified angle, the permeability had an adverse effect on the flow which may be due to the transition to turbulent ahead of the permeable section.

The aerodynamic design optimization of an airfoil is carried out at a transitional low Reynolds number in the framework of multi-fidelity surrogate modeling. Two multi-fidelity surrogate-based optimization methodologies are proposed. The first method involves the co-Kriging surrogate model with prediction-based high-fidelity model update strategy. The second method uses the Kriging model of the low-fidelity function, and subsequent co-Kriging modeling with high-fidelity infills done using the gradient-free trust-region approach. The high-fidelity solutions are obtained by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with the flow transition modeled by the γ-Reθ model. The low-fidelity solutions are obtained by a panel code in conjunction with the eN method. The proposed optimization methodologies are applied to two different objective functions in the transitional low Reynolds number regime, namely, (i) maximization of lift coefficient, and (ii) maximization of endurance factor. Significant improvements in each of the objective functions are obtained using both these methodologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the flow control mechanism of SD7062 airfoil by a rod illustrated using Particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique at pre-stall angles of attack at Reynolds number of Re = 30000. The rod was installed on the suction surface of the airfoil at different chordwise locations. Diameter of the rod was normalized with the chord length of the airfoil and three diameter ratios (d / c = 0.017, 0.033 and 0.044) were examined at angles of attack of a = 6°, 8° and 10°. Formation of laminar separation bubble for the baseline airfoil and the effect of rod on the laminar separation bubble were investigated in detail. It is observed that the height of boundary layer was reduced up to 22% by proper rod location and diameter ratio. Moreover, the rod suppressed the unsteady vortices over the suction surface of airfoil significantly. Therefore, the peak magnitudes of turbulent statistics were also decreased up to 30% by the rod. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-scale or scaled-down wind turbines for model experiments mostly operate in low-Reynolds-number flow. The nonlinear variations of aerodynamic coefficients with respect to the angle of attack caused by viscous effects and laminar boundary layer separation affect the wind turbine performance under these conditions. Although the vortex lattice method (VLM) is an efficient way to predict rotor performance, it tends to suffer from numerical error because nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics cannot be considered. In this study, the nonlinear vortex lattice method (NVLM) is adopted to compute the aerodynamic loads of two small-scale wind turbines. This method involves a sectional airfoil look-up table and vortex strength correction and can be applied to a wide range of operating conditions. The simulations of TU Delft and NTNU wind turbines are conducted to validate the prediction capability of numerical models by comparing predictions with the measurements. It was found that the overall results from the NVLM simulation are more accurate than the VLM results, which implies that the nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics associated with low-Reynolds-number flow should be considered to accurately assess the aerodynamic performance of small-sized wind-turbines, particularly at the low tip speed ratio at which the rotor blade may experience flow separation and dynamic stall. • VLM does not consider the nonlinear aerodynamic behavior caused by low Reynolds number. • NVLM has been suggested to overcome the intrinsic limitation of existing VLM. • Nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics can be successfully captured by NVLM. • NVLM has a great capability to predict the performance and wake structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerodynamic performance of a two-element camber morphing airfoil was investigated at low Reynolds number using the transient SST model in ANSYS FLUENT 14.0 and eN method in XFLR5. The two-element camber morphing concept was employed to morph the baseline airfoil into another airfoil by altering the orientation of mean-line at 35% of the chord to achieve better aerodynamic efficiency. NACA 0012 was selected as baseline airfoil. NACA 23012 was chosen as the test case as it has the camber-line similar to that of the morphed airfoil and as it has the same thickness as that of the baseline airfoil. The simulations were carried out at chord based Reynolds numbers of 2.5×105 and 3.9×105. The aerodynamic force coefficients, aerodynamic efficiency and the location of the transition point of laminar separation bubble over these airfoils were studied for various angles of attack. It was found that the aerodynamic efficiency of the morphed airfoil was 12% higher than that of the target airfoil at 4° angle of attack for Reynolds number of 3.9×105 and 54% rise in aerodynamic performance was noted as Reynolds number was varied from 2.5×105 to 3.9×105. The morphed airfoil exhibited the nature of low Reynolds number airfoil.

From takeoff to cruise, the operating Reynolds number (Re) of the low-pressure turbine (LPT) in an aero-engine decreases significantly, making the boundary layer near the aft portion of the blade surface susceptible to separation. This paper discusses the feasibility of using local dynamic surfaces as an active flow control method to suppress the laminar flow separation on the suction surface in PAKB LPT cascade at low Re. A local dynamic surface, shaped as a half-sinusoidal hump with an oscillation amplitude of 1 mm, was positioned just upstream of the peak velocity point. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed to investigate the aerodynamic performance of the cascades with and without dynamic hump. At first, the effect of Re was studied with the hump oscillating frequency at 200 Hz. Compared with uncontrolled cascade at various Re from 25,000 to 150,000, the profile losses of the cascade controlled by dynamic hump reduced significantly at low Re condition where the separation bubble was very large, and increased slightly at high Re condition where the separation bubble was small. Then the effect of the hump oscillation frequency was investigated under the Re of 25,000. It was found that the controlled cascade loss reached a minimum in a certain hump oscillating frequency range. At low Re of 25,000, the loss of controlled cascade was mainly composed of low-loss continuous laminar vortices that were attached to the suction surface. Continuous vortices with a certain spacing confined the low-energy fluid near the suction surface by energy exchange between the free flow and near-wall flow, which suppressed the large-scale flow separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Choanoflagellates are unicellular microscopic organisms that are believed to be the closest living relatives of animals. They prey on bacteria through the act of the continuous beating of their flagellum, which generates a current through a crown-like filter. Subsequently, the filter retains bacterial particles from the suspension. The mechanism by which the prey is retained and transported along the filter remains unknown. We report here on the hydrodynamic effects on the transportability of bacterial prey of finite size using computational fluid dynamics. Here, the loricate choanoflagellate Diaphaoneca grandis serves as the model organism. The lorica is a basket-like structure found in only some of the species of choanoflagellates. We find that although transportation does not entirely rely on hydrodynamic forces, such forces positively contribute to the transportation of prey along the collar filter. The aiding effects are most possible in non-loricate choanoflagellate species, as compared to loricate species. As hydrodynamic effects are strongly linked to the beat and shape of the flagellum, our results indicate an alternative mechanism for prey transportation, especially in biological systems where having an active transport mechanism is costly or not feasible. This suggests an additional potential role for flagella in addition to providing propulsion and generating feeding currents.

Highlights • L. mexicana behaviour near a no-slip surface is studied via boundary element methods. • Model flagellar beat for Leishmania promastigotes is identified from videomicroscopy. • Idealised simulation of boundary approach shows dichotomy of deflection or collision. • Repulsive surface forces do not induce stable boundary accumulation in this puller. • Tip-first boundary approach may be promoted by morphology-dependent drag. Graphical abstract Abstract It is well established that the parasites of the genus Leishmania exhibit complex surface interactions with the sandfly vector midgut epithelium, but no prior study has considered the details of their hydrodynamics. Here, the boundary behaviours of motile Leishmania mexicana promastigotes are explored in a computational study using the boundary element method, with a model flagellar beating pattern that has been identified from digital videomicroscopy. In particular a simple flagellar kinematics is observed and quantified using image processing and mode identification techniques, suggesting a simple mechanical driver for the Leishmania beat. Phase plane analysis and long-time simulation of a range of Leishmania swimming scenarios demonstrate an absence of stable boundary motility for an idealised model promastigote, with behaviours ranging from boundary capture to deflection into the bulk both with and without surface forces between the swimmer and the boundary. Indeed, the inclusion of a short-range repulsive surface force results in the deflection of all surface-bound promastigotes, suggesting that the documented surface detachment of infective metacyclic promastigotes may be the result of their particular morphology and simple hydrodynamics. Further, simulation elucidates a remarkable morphology-dependent hydrodynamic mechanism of boundary approach, hypothesised to be the cause of the well-established phenomenon of tip-first epithelial attachment of Leishmania promastigotes to the sandfly vector midgut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-orifice discharge with single-phase water flow was experimentally investigated with six multi-micro-orifice test pieces with orifice diameter of 200 µm and thickness to diameter ratio between 4.25 and 27.0. During the experiments the Reynolds number varied between 5 and 4500: a range that corresponds to creeping flow and laminar to turbulent transitional flow. The emergence of turbulence, as indirectly deduced from the change in slope of the pressure drop versus mass flow rate profiles, was found to be gradual and smooth. Using the newly generated data presented here, the validity of an existing micro-orifice discharge prediction method for creeping flow conditions was extended to microfluidics applications with thick micro-orifices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to many restrictions applied by the necessity of fulfilling dimensional analysis in a numericalexperimental research and also the limits in experimental facilities a Low Reynolds Number simulation seems to be widespread. In this paper, effects of the diffuser angle on the aerodynamic behavior of the Ahmed body have been investigated for low Reynolds number flows. Numerical simulations were performed by solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations combined with different turbulence models. The Finite Volume Method (FVM) is used for simulations in Fluent 6.3.26 Software. The main objectives of the study are to improve the aerodynamic design of the body, analyzing the flow field to understand the nature of these improvements and reaching a suitable and reliable experimental-numerical setup for such a flow. Finally, it was concluded that the SST k-ω turbulence model with transitional flow corrections is the best choice. From the flow simulation and obtained experimental data, it was concluded that that drag coefficient is a function of three main phenomena. Results showed that the drag coefficient has its minimum value at a specific diffuser angle (8◦) and further increases in the angle lead to higher drag coefficient. On the other hand, the lift coefficient constantly decreases by increasing the diffuser angle. In order to show the validity of the numerical results, experimental data were obtained by measuring the drag and lift coefficients of scaled standard Ahmed body and a model with the diffuser angle of 8 degrees in a wind tunnel. Results confirmed that improvement of drag and lift coefficients occurs when diffuser region is considered for the Ahmed body. In addition, the flow field around the body was studied in detail to show the effects of the diffuser geometry on the aerodynamic characteristics of the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic forces on a slender rod in a fluid medium at low Reynolds number can be modeled using resistive force theories (RFTs) or slender body theories (SBTs). The former represent the forces by local drag coefficients and are computationally cheap; however, they are physically inaccurate when long-range hydrodynamic interaction is involved. The later are physically accurate but require solving integral equations and, therefore, are computationally expensive. This paper investigates RFTs in comparison with state-of-the art SBT methods. During the process, a neural network-based hydrodynamic model that – similar to RFTs – relies on local drag coefficients for computational efficiency was developed. However, the network is trained using data from an SBT (regularized stokeslet segments method). The R 2 value of the trained coefficients were ∼ 0. 99 with mean absolute error of 1. 6 × 1 0 − 2 . The machine learning resistive force theory (MLRFT) accounts for local hydrodynamic forces distribution, the dependence on rotational and translational speeds and directions, and geometric parameters of the slender object. We show that, when classical RFT fails to accurately predict the forces, torques, and drags on slender rods under low Reynolds number flows, MLRFT exhibits good agreement with physically accurate SBT simulations. In terms of computational speed, MLRFT forgoes the need of solving an inverse problem and, therefore, requires negligible computation time in comparison with SBT. MLRFT presents a computationally inexpensive hydrodynamic model for flagellar propulsion can be used in the design and optimization of biomimetic flagellated robots and analysis of bacterial locomotion. [Display omitted] • Machine learning based low Reynolds number hydrodynamics formulation for helices. • Models and simulations are available at https://github.com/StructuresComp/MLRFT. • Developed framework is comparable in accuracy but faster than slender body theory. • Possible application in real-time control of helical microbots in viscous environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective of this study is to elucidate relationship with aerodynamic properties and vortex shedding from suction surface and wake of wind turbine blade at low Reynolds numbers. Force measurement of NACA 4412 airfoil was conducted at various angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, smoke-wire experiment was performed to clearly visualize flow patterns such as flow separation or laminar separation bubble (LSB) over the airfoil. Also, velocity measurements at near wake region were done to highlight coactions among LSB and trailing edge vortices. Hot-film experiment was performed to obtain more information with regards to progress and formation of LSB. Experiments indicated that location and formation of LSB were affected by variety of both Reynolds number and angle of attack. Besides, mean and rms velocities showed that flow characteristics near wake were influenced by LSB and trailing-edge separation. At lower angles of attack, short bubble occurred, and frequency of vortex shedding due to short bubble were high whereas shedding frequency of long bubble at moderate angles of attack were low. The bubbles can cause vibration and noise at the wind turbine blade, hence they should be better known and eliminated, which aerodynamic performance and energy efficiency of turbine can be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uniform flow past a sphere rotating in the streamwise direction is investigated numerically for the purpose of understanding the effect of rotation of the sphere on flow characteristics. The range of the Reynolds number considered is 0.02 ≤ Re ≤ 200. The rotational speed of the sphere is in the range of 0 ≤ Ω ≤ 1.5, where Ω is the maximum azimuthal velocity of the sphere normalized by the freestream velocity. New formulae for drag coefficient and torque are provided in terms of the Reynolds number and rotation speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop micro dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators (DBD-PAs) for active flow control under low external flow conditions. Our micro DBD-PA consists of thin dielectric material and electrodes having a small width and shape variation in the span-wise direction. The fundamental characteristics of the induced flow structures and the effectiveness of the micro DBD-PAs for separated flow over an airfoil are experimentally studied. The flow structures induced by a straight and a curved type micro DBD-PAs in quiescent air are visualized by the tracer method and processed by particle image velocimetry technique. It is found that the curved type DBD-PA produces three-dimensional flow structures as the results of counter flows that impinge each other. For the separation control of the airfoil flow, the angle of attack and free-stream velocities are set to 7.5° and 2 and 3 m/s, respectively. Results present that the separation is successfully suppressed by the use of the curved type micro DBD-PA and the curved type micro DBD-PA shows better capability in comparison with that of the straight type micro DBD-PA due to the induced flow structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extended Bernoulli equation is formulated in an exact form for a microscopic and small Reynolds number Jeffery-Hamel flow in a two-dimensional convergent or divergent channel. The friction loss and the friction coefficient derived from the extended Bernoulli equation are also obtained for the purpose of engineering applications. The assumption of microscopic and low Reynolds number flow enables us to make the analysis simple, and the results obtained are expressed in forms easy to use. The zeroth- and first-order approximate solutions of velocity distribution in the channel are obtained by solving the nonlinear ordinary differential equation with the optimal homotopy asymptotic method. The zeroth-order solution is shown to be the same function form as that in the two-dimensional parallel flow, i.e., the two-dimensional Poiseuille flow. The extended Bernoulli equation, the friction loss, and the friction coefficient in a finite region of the channel, which are indispensable for applications, are reasonably derived along a stream line and also expressed by cross-sectional average quantities. The cross-sectional average formulae of the friction loss and the friction coefficient are expressed by the geometry of the channel, i.e., the convergent or divergent angle, the channel length, channel widths at inlet and exit. These formulae include the corresponding well-known ones for the two-dimensional parallel flow as a special case where the angle is zero. The friction coefficient drastically increases according to the increase in the angle, especially in a narrow channel region, and attains more than ten times of the friction coefficient for the parallel flow.

In this study, the effects of acoustic excitation frequency on flow over an NACA 2415 airfoil were determined, and all of the experiments were done both with and without the presence of the acoustic excitation. The acoustic excitation was applied for a range of angles of attack (0°-25°) and Reynolds numbers of 50,000, 75,000, 100,000, 150,000, and 200,000. To examine the effects of acoustic excitation on the flow, force measurements, pressure measurements, hot-wire anemometry, smoke-wire flow-visualization, and particle image velocimetry techniques were employed. The results indicated that for stall and some limited poststall angles of attack of the acoustic excitation having a frequency in a certain range forced the separated shear layer to reattach to the surface of the airfoil. As the Reynolds number increased, the effective excitation frequency increased, but the range of Zaman number [St=ðR1=2Þ] was the same. With the acoustic excitation, the stall angle was delayed from 12° to 16° at R ¼ 50,000, and there was a 30% and 50% increase on the maximum value of the lift coefficient and the ratio of the lift and drag forces, respectively. Moreover, the stall angle was delayed from 13° to 17° at R ¼ 75,000, from 15° to 18° at R ¼ 100,000, from 15° to 17° at R ¼ 150,000. Furthermore, it was concluded that acoustic excitation shrunk laminar separation bubble, and an effect of the acoustic control on the separation bubble decreased as the Reynolds number increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical simulation method is employed to investigate the effect of the steady multiple plasma body forces on the flow field of stalled NACA 0015 airfoil. The plasma body forces created by multiple Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) actuators are modeled with a phenomenological plasma method coupled with 2- dimensional compressible turbulent flow equations. The body force distribution is assumed to vary linearly in the triangular region around the actuator. The equations are solved using adual-timeimplicit finite volume method on unstructured grids. In this paper, the responses of the separated flow field to the effects of single and multiple DBD actuators over the broad range of angles of attack ( 9° - 30°) are studied. The effects of the actuators positions on the flow field are also investigated. It is shown that the DBD have a significant effect on flow separation control in low Reynolds number aerodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swimming performance of spermatozoa is an important index for the success of fertilization. For many years, numerous studies have reported the optimal swimming of flagellar organisms. Nevertheless, there is still a question as to which is optimal among planar, circular helical and ellipsoidal helical beating. In this paper, we use a genetic algorithm to investigate the beat pattern with the best swimming efficiency based on hydrodynamic dissipation and internal torque exertion. For the parameters considered, our results show that the planar beat is optimal for small heads and the helical flagellum is optimum for a larger heads, while the ellipsoidal beat is never optimal. Also, the genetic optimization reveals that the wavenumber and shape of wave envelope are relevant parameters, whereas the wave shape and head geometry have relatively minor effects on efficiency. The optimal beat with respect to the efficiency based on the internal torque exertion of an active elastic flagellum is characterized by a small-wavenumber and large-amplitude wave in a lower-viscosity medium. The obtained results on the optimal waveform are consistent with observations for planar waveforms, but in many respects, the results suggest the necessity of a detailed flagellar structure–fluid interaction to address whether real spermatozoa exhibit hydrodynamically efficient swimming. The evolutional optimization approach used in this study has distinguished biologically important parameters, and the methodology can potentially be applicable to various swimmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lateral migration is of significant importance to fiber deposition in wall-bounded flows, especially when other active external physical transport mechanisms are absent. Due to great technical difficulty, investigation on this phenomenon is limited to fundamental derivations, and the implication to particle deposition has not been fully explored. To fill the gap, this study investigated the shear-induced lift and rotation on microfiber transport and deposition in low Reynolds number flows. Transport and deposition of non-neutrally buoyant ellipsoidal fibers in Poiseuille flow in horizontal and vertical channels is systematically examined, and various lateral migration scenarios are carefully investigated. It was found out that, in absence of the sideway gravity, shear-induced lift and rotation cause the fibers to drift across main streamlines in the vertical channel. This lateral movement is either the driving force for fiber deposition in a downward flow or pushes the particles toward channel center in an upward flow configuration. Lateral migration velocity in the vertical channel is found to correlate positively with fiber length and shear rate. Lateral migration is negligible in a horizontal channel where the sideway gravity is dominant. Current study clearly identified the presence of fiber transport scenarios where lateral migration driven by the shear-induced lift and rotation is the major contributor for fiber deposition in wall-bounded flows. The finding is of particular significance to practical applications, as frequently, they involve a combination of these transport scenarios either actively or passively. The study also provided additional insights to examine the equivalency of spheres to fiber dynamics. • Transport and deposition of microfibers in 2D Poiseuille flow was investigated. • Effects on fiber deposition due to shear-induced lift and rotation were analyzed. • The study identified fiber transport scenarios where lift and rotation are dominant. • The study provided insights to examine the equivalency of spheres to fiber dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For teleost fish fertilisation, sperm must proceed through a small opening on the egg surface, referred to as the micropyle. In this paper, we have used boundary element simulations to explore whether the hydrodynamic attraction between sperm and a fish egg can be a sperm guidance cue. Hydrodynamical egg–sperm interactions alone do not increase the chances of an egg encounter, nor do they induce surface swimming for virtual turbot fish sperm across smooth spheres with a diameter of 1 mm, which is representative of a turbot fish egg. When a repulsive surface force between the virtual turbot sperm and the egg is introduced, as motivated by surface charge and van-der-Waals interactions for instance, we find that extended surface swimming of the virtual sperm across a model turbot egg occurs, but ultimately the sperm escapes from the egg. This is due to the small exit angle of the scattering associated with the initial sperm–egg interaction at the egg surface, leading to a weak drift away from the egg, in combination with a weak hydrodynamical attraction between both gametes, though the latter is not sufficient to prevent eventual escape. The resulting transience is not observed experimentally but is a detailed quantitative difference between theory and observation in that stable surface swimming is predicted for eggs with radii larger than about 1.8 mm. Regardless, the extended sperm swimming trajectory across the egg constitutes a two-dimensional search for the micropyle and thus the egg is consistently predicted to provide a guidance cue for sperm once they are sufficiently close. In addition, the observation that the virtual turbot sperm swims stably next to a flat plane given repulsive surface interactions, but does not swim stably adjacent to a turbot-sized egg, which is extremely large by sperm-lengthscales, also highlights that the stability of sperm swimming near a boundary is very sensitive to geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical computation for flow around an airfoil with local oscillation is presented at low Reynolds number to study the effect of the local oscillation on aerodynamic performance of the airfoil. Coupling with unsteady low Reynolds number flow, the local oscillation is considered as a harmonic function varying both in temporal and spatial domains. The effects of the oscillation on lift enhancement and flow patterns are studied parametrically. In particular, three essentials for the oscillation, i.e., frequency, amplitude and equilibrium, are discussed in order to provide a deep understanding for effective active flow control strategy. The results show that the frequency and amplitude of the oscillation are the two key factors for lift enhancement. As the primary frequency of flow equals to the oscillating frequency, and the secondary frequency of the flow is twice than the first one, i.e., frequency lock-in occurs, a series of separation bubbles and vortices are evolved close to the leading edge and moving downstream. These vortices enhance the vorticity around the airfoil and maintain a low pressure distribution on the upper surface, which improve the lift remarkably. The amplitude is related to the input energy transferring from the oscillation into the fluid near the leading edge, which induces a perturbation propagating downstream and enhances the influence on the vortex formation. Moreover, there exists an optimal amplitude range for the oscillation to achieve better controllability with less energy input. The pre-deformed equilibrium of the oscillation is not a necessary factor for the lift enhancement, but it improves the effect of the oscillation on lift enhancement significantly by reducing negative pressure near the leading edge on the upper surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new type of the propulsive devices, cycloidal rotor has been attracting more attention recently. The present work concentrates on the analysis of the performance and internal flow field of a two-bladed cycloidal rotor operating at low Reynolds numbers, with special emphasis on understanding how the flow structure affects the performance at different working conditions. The symmetrical/asymmetrical pitching motions are evaluated initially and the primary results show that the asymmetrical pitching with a mean pitching angle of 5° improves the efficiency of the rotating system. Then, the effect of the chord-to-radius ratio at three different conditions is discussed, which shows that the chord-to-radius ratio of 0.45 is the best value to maximise the performance. The flow pattern, involving the blade-wake interaction, wake-wake interaction, three vortex structures on the blade surface, roll-up vortices inside the laminar boundary layer, separation bubble, leading-edge vortex, trailing-edge vortex and flow separation vortex, are discussed in detail under various operating conditions. The study on the performance of a single blade, the forces (lift and drag) distributions, the blade loadings and the near-wall flows on two blades, provide a new understanding of the global performance change of the propeller. • The asymmetrical pitching kinematic with a mean pitching angle of 5° can obtain a higher efficiency. • The chord-to-radius ratio of 0.45 can maximise the performance, regardless of the advance coefficient and Reynolds number. • The advance coefficient effect is more obvious than Reynolds number, due to the change of the rotating speed only, leading to the significant modification of the stagnation point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The swimming stability of spermatozoa with a specified planar beat pattern in the presence of a no-slip flat surface is explored in a modelling study exploiting direct numerical computation via the boundary element method and dynamical systems theory. Parameter sweeps varying the sperm head morphology and flagellar beat pattern wavenumber are conducted and reveal that stable surface swimming is a robust hydrodynamical phenomenon across extensive parameter values, emphasising that diverse sperm will readily swim adjacent to a surface without detailed feedback. There is little sensitivity to the details of the sperm head morphologies considered and, in particular, cells with human sperm head geometries are well approximated by those with prolate ellipsoid heads. However, surface accumulation is predicted to be inhibited by changes associated with mammalian sperm hyperactivation and quantitative aspects, such as the accumulation height associated with surface swimming, are sensitive to the flagellar beat pattern wavenumber and even to the asymptotically small modelling approximations of slender body theory. In particular, the predicted sensitivity of the accumulation height of swimming sperm to the beat pattern wavenumber is sufficient to suggest the possibility that the limited focal depth of typical microscopy studies analysing flagellar patterns with a fixed focal plane may inadvertently bias the wavenumber of the sperm that are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Membrane wings have applications that involve low Reynolds number flyers such as micro air vehicles. The time-averaged and time-dependent deformations of the membrane affect the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing, primarily in the region beyond the maximum aerodynamic efficiency of the wing. This paper investigates an appropriate nondimensional vibration frequency scaling of a spanwise tensioned membrane with free (unattached) leading and trailing edges at low Reynolds numbers relative to nondimensional aeroelastic parameters. Silicone rubber membranes with varying spanwise pre-tension, aerodynamic tension (due to wing angle-of-attack and flow dynamic pressure), modulus of elasticity, span, and thickness are studied. Experimental results are compared to a proposed scaling that simplifies the aerodynamic loading as a uniform pressure distribution acting on the membrane. Data is further compared and discussed relative to previous published results of membrane wings with finite wing spans (three-dimensional flow) and fixed (rigid) leading edges. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigates the flow field and the hydrodynamic forces induced by the tilting lift of a large object from a rigid porous seabed using an analytical approach. The flow in the corners between the object and the seabed is a corner flow with a low Reynolds number, and the porous media flow in the seabed obeys the Brinkman equations. The complete boundary conditions for viscous flow, including the continuity of velocities and stresses, are utilized at the seabed-water interface. The Helmholtz decomposition theorem, which decomposes the flow field into irrotational and rotational parts, and a perturbation expansion, are employed to solve the boundary-value problem. Perturbation solutions with first-order corrections are presented, indicating that the flow inside the wedged corner is a Stokes flow driven by the liftup of the object, and the flow within the permeable seabed is a boundary-layer flow. Furthermore, in the wedged corner, the flow induced by the slip velocity at the porous interface is similar to the flow in the paint-scraper problem of Taylor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to find the optimal airfoil for Mars exploration aircraft, which requires high-lift-to-drag ratio. However, existing airfoils for flying in the Earth's atmosphere do not have a high enough lift-to-drag ratio in Mars flight condition. The airfoil studied here was designed using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and evaluated using two-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) without turbulence model (laminar). The objectives in this optimization include the maximization of lift and minimization of drag coefficients at only angle of attack of 6 °. The Reynolds number is 2.3 × 104 under the aircraft cruising condition. B-spline curves that connect neighboring control points express the upper and lower surfaces of the airfoil. The results show that some typical types of airfoils excel in aerodynamic performance. Most optimal airfoils have a large upper surface curvature or a strong curvature at the center of the lower surface. The former feature generates a separation bubble that leads to a high negative pressure, and the latter character makes a high positive pressure. Both phenomena generate lift force, and yield higher lift coefficient and high lift-to-drag ratio. Furthermore, most airfoils on the Pareto front have a thickness less than 10 % of the chord length, which is suitable for the wing structure design of the Mars aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to offer the ability of smaller volumes and high throughput in Lab-On-a-Chip and micro Total Analysis Systems devices, more miniaturized components are needed. Due to a low Reynolds number on the microscale, the mixing process can be particularly troublesome. This problem is compounded by the fact that more miniaturization can be challenging in a microfluidic system. In such a case, electroosmotic (EO) force is an efficient force to perturb low Reynolds number fluid. In this paper, a novel Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) based fabrication for microfluidic devices, and a more miniaturized micromixer are presented. The proposed technology process requires the covering of excited electrode patterns by a thin Silicon-Nitride (SiN) insulator layer. Fabrication parameters such as Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition (LPCVD) SiN deposition effect, and height of the Phosphor Silicate Glass (PSG) sacrificial layer were investigated for the electroosmotically-driven mixer. Particle tracing for fluid flow was illustrated, the particles were stretched and folded for a long time, which was a proof of chaotic regime. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) revealed that the mixer with covered electrodes provides the high mixing efficiency of above 90% for a 96 μm long microchannel. Using a silicon nitride insulator layer reduces high electric field gradient at sharp corners and edges of the electrodes, leading to the elimination of unwanted electrolyte effects. Thus, the excitation and geometrical parameters were optimized for the micro mixer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on genome mapping and its connection to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing. It informs that genomic maps are estimates for the number of bases present between the repeats of a particular sequence on the genome. It also informs about the technologies used for stretching DNA including molecular combing, extensional flow, and confinement in a nanochannel.

We analyzed the flow fields characterized by chord-based Reynolds numbers of 5000 to 15,000 over a stationary model of a hummingbird (Calypte anna) wing. Utilizing two experimental techniques, constant-temperature anemometry and stereo particle image velocimetry, the high-fidelity results depict a laminar-to-turbulent transition process that develops over the wing. At both zero and non-zero angles of attack the spectrum of the velocity signals is wide. At non-zero angles of attack the flow separates from the wing surface and a shear layer forms. As a result, unsteady flow disturbances amplify at a chord-based Reynolds numbers as low as 5000. Nevertheless, only at a Reynolds number of 15,000 is the flow disturbance growth rate sufficient to bring enough momentum from the outer region of the boundary layer to reattach the flow to the wing surface. For a Reynolds number of 5000, a comparison between the observed growth rates and a theoretical approximation concludes that flow disturbances of a Strouhal number of unity (and above) are no longer two-dimensional. In view of these conclusions, this study could serve as the first step towards a better understanding of the flow mechanisms over steady revolving and periodically flapping wings at this Reynolds number regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]