Colloquium: Biophysical principles of undulatory self-propulsion in granular media

Goldman, Daniel I.

Title:

Colloquium: Biophysical principles of undulatory self-propulsion in granular media

dc.contributor.author	Goldman, Daniel I.
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. School of Physics	en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines
dc.date.accessioned	2014-10-23T20:46:20Z
dc.date.available	2014-10-23T20:46:20Z
dc.date.issued	2014
dc.description	© 2014 The American Physical Society	en_US
dc.description	DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.86.943
dc.description.abstract	Biological locomotion, movement within environments through self-deformation, encompasses a range of time and length scales in an organism. These include the electrophysiology of the nervous system, the dynamics of muscle activation, the mechanics of the skeletal system, and the interaction mechanics of such structures within natural environments like water, air, sand, and mud. Unlike the many studies of cellular and molecular scale biophysical processes, movement of entire organisms (like flies, lizards, and snakes) is less explored. Further, while movement in fluids like air and water is also well studied, little is known in detail of the mechanics that organisms use to move on and within flowable terrestrial materials such as granular media, ensembles of small particles that collectively display solid, fluid, and gaslike behaviors. This Colloquium reviews recent progress to understand principles of biomechanics and granular physics responsible for locomotion of the sandfish, a small desert-dwelling lizard that “ swims” within sand using undulation of its body. Kinematic and muscle activity measurements of sand swimming using high speed x-ray imaging and electromyography are discussed. This locomotion problem poses an interesting challenge: namely, that equations that govern the interaction of the lizard with its environment do not yet exist. Therefore, complementary modeling approaches are also described: resistive force theory for granular media, multiparticle simulation modeling, and robotic physical modeling. The models reproduce biomechanical and neuromechanical aspects of sand swimming and give insight into how effective locomotion arises from the coupling of the body movement and flow of the granular medium. The argument is given that biophysical study of movement provides exciting opportunities to investigate emergent aspects of living systems that might not depend sensitively on biological details.	en_US
dc.embargo.terms	null	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Goldman, D. I. (2014). Colloquium: Biophysical principles of undulatory self-propulsion in granular media. Reviews of Modern Physics, 86(3), 12.© 2014 by The American Physical Society.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	10.1103/RevModPhys.86.943
dc.identifier.issn	0034-6861
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/52725
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology	en_US
dc.subject	Biological locomotion	en_US
dc.subject	Biomechanics	en_US
dc.subject	Granular medium	en_US
dc.subject	Multiparticle simulation modeling	en_US
dc.subject	Natural environments	en_US
dc.subject	Neuromechanical	en_US
dc.subject	Organism	en_US
dc.subject	Robotic physical modeling	en_US
dc.subject	Self-deformation	en_US
dc.title	Colloquium: Biophysical principles of undulatory self-propulsion in granular media	en_US
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.author	Goldman, Daniel I.
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Physics
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	c4e864bd-2915-429f-a778-a6439e3ef775
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	2ba39017-11f1-40f4-9bc5-66f17b8f1539