EAGER: Numerical and Experimental Study of Purcell-Like Locomotion for Microswimmers

EAGER：微型游泳者类普塞尔运动的数值和实验研究

• 批准号: 2328027
• 负责人: Mingjun Wei
• 金额: $ 18.09万
• 依托单位: Kansas State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-15 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2328027&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Numerical; Experimental; Study; Purcell

Untethered microswimmers have attracted many interests in recent years due to their great potential in various applications such as minimally invasive medicine and active environment monitoring. One of the most famous locomotion by micro-swimmers is the so-called “Purcell swimmer” which was first proposed by and later named after Nobel laureate Edward Purcell. The Purcell swimmer geometrically presents the simplest segmented structure for one-dimensional locomotion on microscale where the Reynolds number is small. Earlier numerical and theoretical studies were universally based on the same assumption of Stokes flow, which neglects the nonlinear and inertial contributions. However, under a more careful examination, actual flow conditions of many microswimmers do not satisfy the criterion to ignore those contributions. On the other hand, experimental demonstrations of untethered Purcell swimmers and associated flow dynamics were scarce due to the challenge of implementing individually-driven hinges in a non-invasive manner with existing fabrication methods for microscale. The success of this study will broaden the understanding of flow physics in micro-swimmers and experimentally demonstrate a new approach to fabricate and control untethered micro-swimmers for the study of their locomotion and flow dynamics. Education components such as graduate education and class teaching are integrated in this project. Demonstration of microswimmer locomotion is included in outreach events to promote public interests in STEM. There are two main goals in this research. First, a unique electromicrofluidic printing technique will position and assemble multiple droplets containing cross-linkable prepolymers and particle embedded hydrogels to fabricate micro-swimmers with individually driven hinges, thus it will allow to manufacture and optically drive untethered Purcell swimmers for the first time. Second, high-fidelity numerical simulation solving Navier-Stokes equations will be used to study Purcell-like locomotion of micro-swimmers to exam the nonlinear and inertial impact on the involved flow physics at the Reynolds number of interests. Both parts of the research involve the study of a newly proposed X-swimmer as a micro-swimmer capable of three-dimensional Purcell-like locomotion. The outcome of this study for three-dimensional locomotion will change the scope of Purcell-like locomotion and enable new possibilities in the study of microswimmer locomotion and flow dynamics. The success of the proposed research will lead to future interdisciplinary collaborations in a broader community for research in micro-swimmers and their various applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

无束缚微游泳器由于其在微创医学、主动环境监测等方面的巨大应用潜力，近年来引起了人们的广泛关注。微型游泳者最著名的运动之一是所谓的“珀塞尔游泳者”，它首先由诺贝尔奖获得者爱德华珀塞尔提出，后来以他的名字命名。珀塞尔游泳运动员几何上提出了最简单的分段结构的一维运动的微观雷诺数是小的。早期的数值和理论研究普遍基于相同的假设的斯托克斯流，忽略了非线性和惯性的贡献。然而，在更仔细的检查下，许多微型游泳者的实际流动条件并不满足忽略这些贡献的标准。另一方面，实验演示的untethered珀塞尔游泳者和相关的流动动力学是稀缺的，由于实施单独驱动的铰链在一个非侵入性的方式与现有的制造方法的微尺度的挑战。这项研究的成功将扩大对微型游泳者流动物理的理解，并通过实验证明一种新的方法来制造和控制无系绳的微型游泳者，以研究其运动和流动动力学。教育组成部分，如研究生教育和课堂教学被纳入该项目。外展活动包括微型游泳者运动示范，以促进公众对STEM的兴趣。 这项研究有两个主要目标。首先，独特的电微流体印刷技术将定位和组装包含交联预聚物和颗粒嵌入水凝胶的多个液滴，以制造具有单独驱动铰链的微型游泳者，因此它将首次允许制造和光学驱动无束缚的珀塞尔游泳者。其次，采用数值模拟的方法研究微型游泳者的Purcell运动，考察在雷诺数下非线性和惯性对流动物理的影响。研究的两个部分都涉及对新提出的X-swimmer的研究，该X-swimmer是一种能够进行三维Purcell运动的微型游泳者。三维运动的研究结果将改变Purcell样运动的范围，并使新的可能性，在研究microswimmer运动和流动动力学。成功的拟议研究将导致未来的跨学科合作，在更广泛的社区研究微型游泳者和他们的各种应用。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。