The curved kinetic boundary layer of active matter

Abstract

The finite reorient-time of swimmers leads to a finite run length $\ell$ and the kinetic accumulation boundary layer on the microscopic length scale $\delta$ on a non-penetrating wall. That boundary layer is the microscopic origin of the swim pressure, and is impacted by the geometry of the boundary [Yan \& Brady, \textit{J. Fluid. Mech.}, 2015, \textbf{785}, R1]. In this work we extend the analysis to analytically solve the boundary layer on an arbitrary-shaped body distorted by the local mean curvature. The solution gives the swim pressure distribution and the total force (torque) on an arbitrarily shaped body immersed in swimmers, with a general scaling of the curvature effect $\Pi^{swim}\sim\lambda\delta^2/L$.