Teaching Stokesian Dynamics to Swim

In the article "Modeling hydrodynamic self-propulsion with Stokesian Dynamics. Or teaching Stokesian Dynamics to swim," Swan, Brady and Moore demonstrate how models of swimming microorganisms can be constructed from rigid particles that move along a prescribed gait. The hydrodynamic interactions between particles serve as a surrogate for a solution of the Stokes equations dictating the fluid flow around the swimmer. These interactions are accounted for faithfully with the Stokesian Dynamics method. Below are several movies depicting model swimmers created with this technique. A software package capable replicating these model swimmers as well as others is available.

Amoeboid swimmer

Helical swimmer

Threelink swimmer