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Propulsion driven by self-oscillation via an electrohydrodynamic instability

Lailai Zhu and Howard A. Stone
Phys. Rev. Fluids 4, 061701(R) – Published 24 June 2019
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Abstract

Oscillations of flagella and cilia play an important role in biology, which motivates the idea of functional mimicry as part of bioinspired applications. Nevertheless, it still remains challenging to drive their artificial counterparts to oscillate via a steady, homogeneous stimulus. Combining theory and simulations, we demonstrate a strategy to achieve this goal by using an elastoelectrohydrodynamic instability (based on the Quincke rotation instability). In particular, we show that applying a uniform dc electric field can produce self-oscillatory motion of a microrobot composed of a dielectric particle and an elastic filament. Upon tuning the electric field and filament elasticity, the microrobot exhibits three distinct behaviors: a stationary state, undulatory swimming, and steady spinning, where the swimming behavior stems from an instability emerging through a Hopf bifurcation. Our results imply the feasibility of engineering self-oscillations by leveraging the elastoviscous response to control the type of bifurcation and the form of instability. We anticipate that our strategy will be useful in a broad range of applications imitating self-oscillatory natural phenomena and biological processes.

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  • Received 4 January 2019
  • Revised 22 March 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.4.061701

©2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Physics of Living SystemsFluid Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Lailai Zhu1,2 and Howard A. Stone1,*

  • 1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA
  • 2Linné Flow Centre and Swedish e-Science Research Centre (SeRC), KTH Mechanics, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden

  • *hastone@princeton.edu

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Issue

Vol. 4, Iss. 6 — June 2019

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