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Gyrotactic swimmers in turbulence: shape effects and role of the large-scale flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2018

M. Borgnino ,
G. Boffetta ,
F. De Lillo  and
M. Cencini Open the ORCID record for M. Cencini [Opens in a new window]
M. Borgnino*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Università di Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
G. Boffetta
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Università di Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
F. De Lillo
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN, Università di Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
M. Cencini*
Affiliation:
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, CNR, via dei Taurini 19, 00185 Rome, Italyand INFN ‘Tor Vergata’
*
†Email addresses for correspondence: matteo.borgnino@unito.it, massimo.cencini@cnr.it
†Email addresses for correspondence: matteo.borgnino@unito.it, massimo.cencini@cnr.it
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Abstract

We study the dynamics and the statistics of dilute suspensions of gyrotactic swimmers, a model for many aquatic motile microorganisms. By means of extensive numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations at different Reynolds numbers, we investigate preferential sampling and small-scale clustering as a function of the swimming (stability and speed) and shape parameters, considering in particular the limits of spherical and rod-like particles. While spherical swimmers preferentially sample local downwelling flow, for elongated swimmers we observe a transition from downwelling to upwelling regions at sufficiently high swimming speed. The spatial distribution of both spherical and elongated swimmers is found to be fractal at small scales in a wide range of swimming parameters. The direct comparison between the different shapes shows that spherical swimmers are more clusterized at small stability and speed numbers, while for large values of the parameters elongated cells concentrate more. The relevance of our results for phytoplankton swimming in the ocean is briefly discussed.

JFM classification

Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Turbulent Flows: Turbulent Flows
Type
JFM Rapids
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 856 , 10 December 2018 , R1
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Copyright
© 2018 Cambridge University Press 

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