Minimal design of a synthetic cilium
We study a slender filament beating in a viscous fluid with novel curvature-dependent bending stiffness. Our numerical and experimental investigations reveal that such differential stiffness can sustain planar bending waves far along flexible filaments, in stark contrast to the uniform-stiffness case which requires more sophisticated control. In particular, we establish basal actuation as a viable, parsimonious mechanism for generating high-amplitude planar bending waves. Moreover, the resulting beat patterns closely resemble the power-and-recovery strokes of propulsive biological filaments such as cilia, suggesting extensive applications in robotic and engineered systems. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Authors
- Clément Moreau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8557-1149)
- Kirsty Y. Wan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0291-328X)
- Rebecca N. Poon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6764-5258)
- Daniel Soto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9216-5596)
- Benjamin J. Walker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0853-267X)
- Eamonn A. Gaffney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6888-4362)
- Daniel I. Goldman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6954-9857)
Institutions
- École Centrale de Nantes (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- State Street (United States) (US)
- Kyoto University (JP)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (FR)
- IMT Atlantique (FR)
- University College London (GB)
- University of Bath (GB)
- Nantes Université (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Research
- Published
- 2024-12-12
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.6.l042061
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Micro and Nano Robotics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.55
Funders
- Company of Biologists
- Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
- European Commission
- European Research Council
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Horizon 2020
- Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences
- Division of Mathematical Sciences