Inertial swimming as a singular perturbation

Applied Analysis and Probability Seminar

Meeting Details

For more information about this meeting, contact Alexei Novikov.

Speaker: Steve Childress, Courant, NYU

Abstract: We revisit the classic problem of swimming of a sheet studied by G.I. Taylor in Stokes flow. At finite and large Reynold number Taylor's result is modified. The known results are reexamined for large Reynolds number using boundary-layer theory, and the nature of the expansions is clarified for wave-like motions of the sheet. We apply this approach to recoil swimming, a mechanism of locomotion that is known to work in a perfect fluid, thus extending the theory to a slightly viscous fluid.


Room Reservation Information

Room Number: 106 McAllister

Date: 04/21/2009

Time: 3:50pm - 4:50pm