Real model for micro swimmer and the study of the relationship between the swimming speed, pitch angle, and rotation rate for the flagellum

Abstract

This study focuses on the fluid mechanics of a microswimmer and explores the relationship between speed, pitch angle, and rotation rate for the flagellar during bacterial swimming. Based on the simulation using MATLAB, it is concluded that when the pitch angle of the flagellar helix is in the range of 0 to 90 degrees, the value of swimming speed increases firstly and decreases. When the angle reaches 46.83 degrees, the speed reaches the maximum point. The radius of the body of the microswimmer is determined by the Buckingham Pi theory. After calculating by using the equations in the related paper and measuring by the real model, we derive that the relationship between swimming speed and the rotation rate for the flagellar filament should be proportional at the low rotation rate so that it can be obtained to optimize the artificial micro swimming device with higher swimming efficiency.