The Open Transport Phenomena Journal

2009, 1 : 30-34
Published online 2009 August 13. DOI: 10.2174/1877729500901010030
Publisher ID: TOTPJ-1-30

Effect of Individual Properties of Flexible Chainlike Walkers in a Many- Body System

Takashi Mashiko
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shizuoka University, Johoku 3-5-1, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan

ABSTRACT

Several versions of the “flexible chainlike walker” (FCW) model are proposed and investigated by numerical simulations on a square lattice. It is shown that the “original” FCWs aggregate spontaneously and irreversibly, where no adherence is assumed, triggered by “mutual locking”. This is in complete contrast to established aggregation models which necessarily require adherence, and exemplifies the significance of the deformability of self-driven objects. The behaviors of the “smart” FCWs, which have higher ability of moving, are similar to those of the original FCWs. This suggests that the spontaneous, irreversible aggregation is a robust feature peculiar to a many-body system of deformable self-driven objects. On the other hand, the “double-headed” FCWs do not undergo the mutual locking and the resultant irreversible aggregation, unlike the original and the smart FCWs. This indicates that “bidirectionality” prevents deformable self-driven objects from aggregating.

Keywords:

Aggregation, deformable objects, random walk.