Effect of retarded friction and added mass on the swimming speed of a vibrating two-sphere

Abstract

A theoretical expression is derived for the mechanical contribution to the mean swimming speed of a vibrating two-sphere immersed in a viscous incompressible fluid. The two spheres are connected by an elastic spring which provides a harmonic potential for oscillations about a mean distance between centers. The system is made to oscillate at a chosen frequency by activating forces which sum to zero. The mechanical contribution to the resulting mean swimming velocity is calculated from the mechanical equations of motion and the corresponding impedance matrix of linear response. The frequency-dependent pair friction coefficients are found from approximate expressions derived earlier. The mechanical contribution is calculated to second order in the amplitude of stroke as a function of the scaling number, a dimensionless combination of size, frequency, and kinematic viscosity. Retarded friction and added mass determine the functional behavior.