Tuning Gastropod Locomotion: Modeling The Influence Of Mucus Rheology on the Cost of Crawling
Name
06-P-02.pdf
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497.84 KB
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Lauga, Eric
Hosoi, A.E.
Date Issued
May 4, 2007
Series/Report no.
06-P-02
Abstract
Common gastropods such as snails crawl on a solid substrate by propagating muscular waves of shear stress on a viscoelastic mucus. Producing the mucus accounts for the largest component in the gastropod’s energy budget, more than twenty times the amount of mechanical work used in crawling. Using a simple mechanical model, we show that the shear-thinnning properties of the mucus favor
a decrease in the amount of mucus necessary for crawling, thereby decreasing the overall energetic cost of locomotion.
Description
Submitted to Phys. Fluids.
Subjects
Gastropod locomotion
Optimization
Rheology
Snails
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