| Fri June 26th 2015 11:00 – 12:00 ZH286 | Seminar | Different aspects of locomotion in the living world Daniel Tam |
Details:In this talk, I will discuss two entirely different problems related to locomotion in the living world. First, at macroscopic length scales, I will discuss the influence of flexibility on lift generation. The study focuses on the side-to-side fluttering motion of passive wings settling under the influence of gravity. Experimental results demonstrate the existence of an optimal flexibility, for which flexible wings remain flying twice longer and hence settle twice slower compared to rigid wings of identical mass and geometry. Flow visualizations and measurements provide key insight to elucidate the role of flexibility in generating increased lift and wing circulation by shedding additional vorticity at the turning point. Second, at microscopic length scales, I will focus on flagellar locomotion of green algae Chlamydomonas at the micrometric scale. I will discuss recent experimental attempts to externally control the beating dynamics of eukaryotic flagella by means of generating external flow fields around the flagellated cell. The key idea is to dynamically interact with flagellated microorganisms in real time, by generating an externally controlled periodic forcing, of the relevant nature, in the relevant force range and at the relevant length and time scales. | ||
