The Role of the Double-Layer Potential in Regularised Stokeslet Models of Self-Propulsion

The method of regularised stokeslets is widely used to model microscale biological propulsion. The method is usually implemented with only the single-layer potential, the double-layer potential being neglected, despite this formulation often not being justified a priori due to nonrigid surface deformation. We describe a meshless approach enabling the inclusion of the double layer which is applied to several Stokes flow problems in which neglect of the double layer is not strictly valid: the drag on a spherical droplet with partial-slip boundary condition, swimming velocity and rate of working of a force-free spherical squirmer, and trajectory, swimmer-generated flow and rate of working of undulatory swimmers of varying slenderness. The resistance problem is solved accurately with modest discretisation on a notebook computer with the inclusion of the double layer ranging from no-slip to free-slip limits; the neglect of the double-layer potential results in up to 24% error, confirming the importance of the double layer in applications such as nanofluidics, in which partial slip may occur. The squirming swimmer problem is also solved for both velocity and rate of working to within a small percent error when the double-layer potential is included, but the error in the rate of working is above 250% when the double layer is neglected. The undulating swimmer problem by contrast produces a very similar value of the velocity and rate of working for both slender and nonslender swimmers, whether or not the double layer is included, which may be due to the deformation’s ‘locally rigid body’ nature, providing empirical evidence that its neglect may be reasonable in many problems of interest. The inclusion of the double layer enables us to confirm robustly that slenderness provides major advantages in efficient motility despite minimal qualitative changes to the flow field and force distribution.

A SEMI-ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR A FLOW OF NON-VISCOUS FLUID AROUND AN AIRFOIL WITH A SHARP TRAILING EDGE

In the present work we propose a method to study a two-dimensional flow of non-viscous fluid around an airfoil with a sharp trailing edge, by the double-layer potential theory. The circulation of velocity vector is modeled by the potential of a point vortex whose center is located inside the boundary contour. The magnitude of the circulation is defined on the basis of the Joukowski-Chaplygin postulate. There are presented some results for a Joukowski rudde, as well as for the airfoil in the form of a pair of interacting circles. It is performed a comparison of the circulation with its theoretical value.

The Role of the Double Layer Potential in Regularized Stokeslet Models of Self-Propulsion

The method of regularized stokeslets is widely-used to model microscale biological propulsion. The method is usually implemented with only the single layer potential, with the double layer potential being neglected, despite this formulation often not being justified a priori due to non-rigid surface deformation. We describe a meshless approach enabling inclusion of the double layer which is applied to several Stokes flow problems in which neglect of the double layer is not strictly valid: the drag on a spherical droplet with partial slip boundary condition, swimming velocity and rate of working of a force-free spherical squirmer, and trajectory, swimmer-generated flow and rate of working of undulatory swimmers of varying slenderness. The resistance problem is solved accurately with modest discretization on a notebook computer with the inclusion of the double layer ranging from no-slip to free slip limits; neglect of the double layer potential results in up to 24% error, confirming the importance of the double layer in applications such as nanofluidics, in which partial slip may occur. The squirming swimmer problem is also solved for both velocity and rate of working to within a few percent error when the double layer potential is included, but the error in the rate of working is above 250% when the double layer is neglected. The undulating swimmer problem by contrast produces a very similar value of the velocity and rate of working for both slender and non-slender swimmers, whether or not the double layer is included, which may be due to the deformation’s `locally rigid body’ nature, providing empirical evidence that its neglect may be reasonable in many problems of interest. Inclusion of the double layer enables us to confirm robustly that slenderness provides major advantages in efficient motility despite minimal qualitative changes to the flow field and force distribution.

Vortex Structures and Electron Beam Dynamics in Magnetized Plasma

We investigate the formation of vortex structures at the refl ection of an electron beam from the double layer of the Jupiter ionosphere. The infl uence of these vortex structures on the formation of dense upward electron fl uxes accelerated by the double layer potential along the Io flux tube is studied. The phase transition to the cyclotron superradiance mode becomes possible for these electrons. The conditions of the formation of vortex perturbations are considered. The nonlinear equation that describes the vortex dynamics of electrons is constructed, and its consequences are studied.

Spectral Properties of the Neumann–Poincaré Operator in 3D Elasticity

We consider the adjoint double layer potential (Neumann–Poincaré (NP)) operator appearing in 3-dimensional elasticity. We show that the recent result about the polynomial compactness of this operator for the case of a homogeneous media follows without additional calculations from previous considerations by Agranovich et al., based upon pseudodifferential operators. Further on, we define the NP operator for the case of a nonhomogeneous isotropic media and show that its properties depend crucially on the character of nonhomogeneity. If the Lamé parameters are constant along the boundary, the NP operator is still polynomially compact. On the other hand, if these parameters are not constant, two or more intervals of continuous spectrum may appear, so the NP operator ceases to be polynomially compact. However, after a certain modification, it becomes polynomially compact again. Finally, we evaluate the rate of convergence of discrete eigenvalues of the NP operator to the tips of the essential spectrum.