IUPUI

Title: Model for Complex Fluid-Structure Interaction in Sperm aand Ciliary Motility

Speaker: Robert Dillon, Washington State University

Abstract: The motility of sperm flagella and cilia are based on a common

axonemal structure.  This structure is capable of generating a wide

range of dynamical behavior modulated by signaling molecules as well

as the properties of the fluid environment. We describe a

fluid-mechanical model for the axoneme coupling the internal force

generation of dynein molecular motors through the passive elastic

axonemal structure with the external fluid mechanics. As shown in

numerical simulations, the model's flagellar waveform depends strongly

on viscosity as well as dynein strength. We show an extension of our

original model for Newtonian fluids to complex viscoelastic fluids in

order to model mucus transport by cilia in the respiratory tract as

well as sperm motility in reproduction. These immersed boundary models

for sperm and ciliary motility in complex fluids explore continuum

approaches such as Oldroyd-B as well as Lagrangian moving mesh

methods.