(Sexual Swimmers)
6 The Physics of Motion
Swimmer's bodies are approximated as 2D rigid bodies composed of line segments, which can change internally via the autonomous bending of joints. A swimmer's internal geometry cannot be changed by outside forces. In a 3D version of this world, these line segments would roughly correspond to thin cylinders of equal size, shape, and mass. A swimmer's mass equals the sum of all limb segment lengths times a mass constant.
As stated before, fluid flow is not calculated in this model - the fluid is assumed to be fixed in a world frame. Its job is simply to supply friction to give the swimmers something to work against. Proportional to a friction constant, the motion of each limb segment creates a force proportional to the sine of the angle between the segment orientation and the segment velocity.
Angular momentum is affected by torques created by each limb segment's force, in relation to the center of mass. In each time step, the accumulation of all linear and angular forces generated by individual segment motions are summed up to create net linear and angular accelerations.
This physics model is not comprehensive, but sufficient for the purposes of this study. And it allows for both paddling-type motions and undulating-type motions to be affective in propelling the body, assuming there is minimal drag caused by other body parts. It also supplies a variable corresponding to the magnitude of total forces exerted on the water, which is used to approximate the expenditure of energy in a swimmer.
7 Running Simulations
