Analysis of worm-like locomotion driven by the sine-squared strain wave in a linear viscous medium

In this paper, a worm-like locomotion in a linear resistive medium is studied to achieve controlled shape changes of the worm-like body by choosing a kind of driving with low energy expended and high-velocity locomotion in certain condition. To this end, we first develop the full dynamic model of the system under consideration to obtain the mean velocity related to friction coefficient, wave speed, linear density, body length and wave width. Correspondingly, a quasi-static model is also given from which the velocity can be expressed analytically. In the case of the shape change driven by the sine-squared strain wave (SSSW), it is seen that these two velocities will tend to uniformity with the friction coefficient or length of the body increasing or the wave speed decreasing when keeping the other parameters unchanged. Thus, the inertia term is ignorable for a large friction, a long body-length but a small wave-speed of the SSSW, which implies that the dynamical model can be reduced to the quasi-static one. The relative criterion is approximately given. As a result, the corresponding quasi-static model is employed to consider two typical drives, namely, the SSSW and the square strain wave (SSW). The result shows the shape change driven by the SSSW has an advantage in both the mean velocity and the average energy expended over that by the SSW when the necessary condition is satisfied. The analytical results are verified by numerical simulation.