Swimming at low Reynolds number

Abstract

We address the swimming problem at low Reynolds number. This regime, which is typically used for micro-swimmers, is described by Stokes equations. We couple a PDE solver of Stokes equations, derived from the Feel++ finite elements library, to a quaternion-based rigid-body solver. We validate our numerical results both on a 2D exact solution and on an exact solution for a rotating rigid body respectively. Finally, we apply them to simulate the motion of a one-hinged swimmer, which obeys to the scallop theorem.