Virginia Tech. Department of Mechanical EngineeringCarnegie Mellon University. Department of Mechanical EngineeringArabagi, VeaceslavBehkam, BaharehCheung, EugeneSitti, Metin2015-05-262015-05-262011-06-01Arabagi, V., Bahareh, B., Cheung, E. & Sitti, M. (2011). Modeling of stochastic motion of bacteria propelled spherical microbeads. Journal of Applied Physics, 109(11). doi: 10.1063/1.35929700021-8979http://hdl.handle.net/10919/52614This work proposes a stochastic dynamic model of bacteria propelled spherical microbeads as potential swimming microrobotic bodies. Small numbers of S. marcescens bacteria are attached with their bodies to surfaces of spherical microbeads. Average-behavior stochastic models that are normally adopted when studying such biological systems are generally not effective for cases in which a small number of agents are interacting in a complex manner, hence a stochastic model is proposed to simulate the behavior of 8-41 bacteria assembled on a curved surface. Flexibility of the flagellar hook is studied via comparing simulated and experimental results for scenarios of increasing bead size and the number of attached bacteria on a bead. Although requiring more experimental data to yield an exact, certain flagellar hook stiffness value, the examined results favor a stiffer flagella. The stochastic model is intended to be used as a design and simulation tool for future potential targeted drug delivery and disease diagnosis applications of bacteria propelled microrobots. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3592970]11 pagesapplication/pdfen-USIn CopyrightBacteriaFlagellaFluid flowsHydrodynamicsNumerical modelingArticle - Refereedhttp://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/109/11/10.1063/1.3592970https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3592970