Optimal Swimming at Low Reynolds Numbers
- 28 October 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 93 (18) , 186001
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.93.186001
Abstract
Efficient swimming at low Reynolds numbers is a major concern of microbots. To compare the efficiencies of different swimmers we introduce the notion of “a swimming drag coefficient” which allows for the ranking of swimmers. We find the optimal swimmer within a certain class of two-dimensional swimmers using conformal mapping techniques.Keywords
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