Surface tank-treading: propulsion of Purcell's toroidal swimmer

In this work we address the “smoking ring” propulsion technique, originally proposed by E. M. Purcell. We first consider self-locomotion of a doughnut-shaped swimmer powered by surface tank-treading. Different modes of surface motion are assumed and propulsion velocity and swimming efficiency are determined. The swimmer is propelled against the direction of its outer surface motion, the inner surface having very little affect. The simplest swimming mode corresponding to constant angular velocity, can achieve propulsion speeds of up to 66% of the surface tank-treading velocity and swimming efficiency of up to 13%. Higher efficiency is possible for more complicated modes powered by twirling of extensible surface. A potential practical design of a swimmer motivated by Purcell’s idea is proposed and demonstrated numerically. Lastly, the explicit solution is found for a two-dimensional swimmer composed of two counter-rotating disks, using complex variable techniques.