Optimal actuation of flagellar magnetic microswimmers.

El Alaoui-Faris, Yacine; Pomet, Jean-Baptiste; Régnier, Stéphane; Giraldi, Laetitia · Phys Rev E · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We present an automated procedure for the design of optimal actuation for flagellar magnetic microswimmers based on numerical optimization. Using this method, a magnetic actuation method is provided which allows these devices to swim significantly faster compared to the usual sinusoidal actuation. This leads to a novel swimming strategy which makes the swimmer perform a three-dimensional figure-eight trajectory. This shows that a faster propulsion is obtained when the swimmer is allowed to go out of plane. This approach is experimentally validated on a scaled-up flexible swimmer.