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arXiv · 0911.5511

Stirring by swimming bodies

Jean-Luc Thiffeault·Stephen Childress
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Abstract

We consider the stirring of an inviscid fluid caused by the locomotion of bodies through it. The swimmers are approximated by non-interacting cylinders or spheres moving steadily along straight lines. We find the displacement of fluid particles caused by the nearby passage of a swimmer as a function of an impact parameter. We use this to compute the effective diffusion coefficient from the random walk of a fluid particle under the influence of a distribution of swimming bodies. We compare with the results of simulations. For typical sizes, densities and swimming velocities of schools of krill, the effective diffusivity in this model is five times the thermal diffusivity. However, we estimate that viscosity increases this value by two orders of magnitude.

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Jean-Luc Thiffeault, Stephen Childress. 2010-06-18. Stirring by swimming bodies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2010.06.043

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