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Swimming in granular media

Takashi Shimada1,2,*, Dirk Kadau2, Troy Shinbrot3, and Hans J. Herrmann2,4

  • 1Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
  • 2Computational Physics for Engineering Materials, IfB, ETH Zürich, Schafmattstr. 6, 8046 Zurich, Switzerland
  • 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscatawy, New Jersey 08816 USA
  • 4Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Ceara, Caixa Postal 6030, Fortaleza 60455–760, Brazil

  • *shimada@ap.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Phys. Rev. E 80, 020301(R) – Published 7 August, 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.020301

Abstract

A class of reptiles known as sand swimmers adapts to hot environments by submerging beneath desert sands during the day and so provide a unique probe into the dynamics of intruders in granular beds. To understand the mechanism for swimming in an otherwise solid bed, we study a simple model of periodic contraction and extension of large intruders in a granular bed. Using an event-driven simulation, we find optimal conditions that idealized swimmers must use to critically fluidize a sand bed so that it is rigid enough to support a load when needed, but fluid enough to permit motion with minimal resistance. Swimmers—or other intruders—that agitate the bed too rapidly produce large voids that prevent traction from being achieved, while swimmers that move too slowly cannot travel before the bed resolidifies around them, i.e., the swimmers locally probe the fundamental time scale in a granular packing.

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Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. E 80, 020301(R)– Published 7 August, 2009
  • Received 24 March 2009

© 2009 American Physical Society

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