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Accurate simulation dynamics of microscopic filaments using "caterpillar" Oseen hydrodynamics.

TitleAccurate simulation dynamics of microscopic filaments using "caterpillar" Oseen hydrodynamics.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsBailey, AG, Lowe, CP, Pagonabarraga, I, Cosentino Lagomarsino, M
JournalPhys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
Volume80
Issue4 Pt 2
Pagination046707
Date Published2009 Oct
ISSN1550-2376
KeywordsActin Cytoskeleton, Computer Simulation, Elastic Modulus, Models, Biological, Movement
Abstract

Microscopic semiflexible filaments suspended in a viscous fluid are widely encountered in biophysical problems. The classic example is the flagella used by microorganisms to generate propulsion. Simulating the dynamics of these filaments numerically is complicated because of the coupling between the motion of the filament and that of the surrounding fluid. An attractive idea is to simplify this coupling by modeling the fluid motion by using Stokeslets distributed at equal intervals along the model filament. We show that, with an appropriate choice of the hydrodynamic radii, one can recover accurate hydrodynamic behavior of a filament with a finite cross section without requiring an explicit surface. This is true, however, only if the hydrodynamic radii take specific values and that they differ in the parallel and perpendicular directions leading to a caterpillarlike hydrodynamic shape. Having demonstrated this, we use the model to compare with analytic theory of filament deformation and rotation in the small deformation limit. Generalization of the methodology, including application to simulations using the Rotne-Prager tensor, is discussed.

Alternate JournalPhys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys
PubMed ID19905482

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