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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Surfing locomotion of elastic sheets driven by curvature mismatch

Omri Y. Cohen, Yael Klein, and Eran Sharon*

  • *Contact author: erans@mail.huji.ac.il
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032065 – Published 22 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qbjj-7qvy

Abstract

The locomotion of flexible membranes on top of curved surfaces appears in different contexts and scales, from cells to tissue and to cm-scale organisms. We present an experimental and theoretical study of curvature-driven locomotion, using gel ribbons that surf on a curved fluid-fluid interface via autonomous periodic modulation of their curvature. We derive a mechanical model in which forces and torques emerge from the curvature mismatch between the ribbon and the substrate. Analytic and numerical solutions of the equations of motion successfully predict the experimentally measured velocity profiles. We conclude by highlighting the relevance of this curvature-driven mode of locomotion to other mechanical, as well as biological systems.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032065– Published 22 September, 2025
  • Received 5 May 2024
  • Revised 12 March 2025
  • Accepted 2 July 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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