Issue 12, 2011

Effect of helicity on wrapping and bundling of semi-flexible filaments twirled in a viscous fluid

Abstract

In many motile microorganisms, propulsion is achieved by rotating or twirling one or more long appendages called flagella. These semi-flexible filaments are also intrinsically helical. Recent studies have revealed that zero-Reynolds number propulsion in a viscous environment is possible even with simpler achiral filaments flexible enough to undergo a wrapping transition to twisted shapes when twirled at one end at high torques. We use simulations to show that intrinsic helicity eliminates the transition. This makes operating characteristics of more twisted filaments smoother over a wide range of applied torques, both in single filaments, as well as in a pair of filaments hydrodynamically bundling together when co-twirled in the same direction.

Graphical abstract: Effect of helicity on wrapping and bundling of semi-flexible filaments twirled in a viscous fluid

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
16 Feb 2011
Accepted
21 Apr 2011
First published
16 May 2011

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 5536-5539

Effect of helicity on wrapping and bundling of semi-flexible filaments twirled in a viscous fluid

S. Clark and R. Prabhakar, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 5536 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05269A

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