Benjamin J. Walker

Lecturer in Applied Mathematics & 1851 Research Fellow
University College London
benjamin.walker@ucl.ac.uk

VisualPDE.com

Interactive Mathematics

Some topics in mathematics can be difficult to teach in a way that engages people interactively. Andrew Krause, Adam Townsend, and I have put together VisualPDE.com to try to change this for partial differential equations (PDEs). VisualPDE simulates systems of equations at lightning speed, all in your browser, and is infinitely customisable. It's even solving a PDE right now - try clicking in the nearby square to interact with one of our examples.

Research interests

Solid mechanics and biological growth

Exploration of the role of solid mechanics in biology, from influencing the growth of tumours to controlling the development of vascular networks.

Filament mechanics

Efficient simulation of elastohydrodynamics in 2D and 3D, exploring the role and regulation of active moments in eukaryotic flagella, in addition to the responses of filaments to flow.

Microscale swimming

Investigation into the low Reynolds number swimming of flagellates, such as the boundary response of large-bodied Leishmania and the interactions between nearby spermatozoa.

Flagellar analysis

Automated processing and identification of flagella from videomicroscopy, enabling population-level waveform analysis without requiring costly researcher input. Publication and ImageJ code for flagella capture freely available here.

Slender-body theory

Incorporation of non-uniform body shapes and curvatures into slender-body theories via asymptotic methods, enabling simple and rapid flow field computation and further theoretical study using regularised singularities.

Research snapshot

Multiscale methods and microswimmer models

The effective hydrodynamic shapes of yawing spheroids.
The effects of rapid yawing on simple swimmer models and planar Jeffery's orbits.
Physical Review Fluids

If we take a minimal model of a microswimmer and include the effects of rapid side-to-side yawing, does the prediction of the model change? Here, we find out through a simple multiple-scales analysis.

An example shape-changing swimmer being rotated by a background flow.
Canonical orbits for rapidly deforming planar microswimmers in shear flow.
Physical Review Fluids

Suppose we have a swimmer that moves by rapidly changing its shape in the plane of a shear flow. Here, we show that, on average, the shape-deforming swimmer undergoes the classical orbit dynamics studied by G. B. Jeffery a century ago.

Closed trajectories in semi-periodic phase-space (angle-position).
Emergent rheotaxis of shape-changing swimmers in Poiseuille flow.
JFM Rapids and Focus on Fluids

Given a simple model of a swimmer being carried by the flow in a pipe, can we deduce its long-term behaviour? Here, we avoid numerical simulation and analytically determine the eventual behaviour of the swimmer through the computation of a single swimmer-dependent constant.

Phase portrait of the interaction of two freely rotating dipoles (angle-angle).
Systematic parameterisations of minimal models of microswimming.
Physical Review Fluids

When we use the simplest microswimmer models to develop intuition for complex, rapidly evolving swimmers, do we have to be careful with our choice of effective parameters? Here, through minimally complex examples and simple multi-timescale analysis, we see that we must be careful even when only seeking qualitative agreement.

Publications

 Google Scholar

    Preprints

  1. B. J. Walker, H. M. Byrne. On discretely structured logistic models and their moments. arXiv.
  2. C. Fort, B. J. Walker, L. Baert, R. J. Wheeler. Proteins with proximal-distal asymmetries in axoneme localisation control flagellum beat frequency. bioRxiv.
  3. H. Z. Ford, G. L. Celora, E. R. Westbrook, M. P. Dalwadi, B. J. Walker, H. Baumann, C. J. Weijer, P. Pearce, J. R. Chubb. Pattern formation along signaling gradients driven by active droplet behaviour of cell groups. bioRxiv.
  4. S. Fochler, B. J. Walker, R. J. Wheeler, E. Gluenz. Divergent Protein Kinase A contributes to the regulation of flagellar waveform of the motile flagellum of Leishmania mexicana. bioRxiv.

    2024

  5. C. Moreau, B. J. Walker, R. N. Poon, D. Soto, D. I. Goldman, E. A. Gaffney, K. Y. Wan (2024). Minimal design of a synthetic cilium. Physical Review Research. Full text.
  6. A. L. Krause, E. A. Gaffney, T. J. Jewell, V. Klika, B. J. Walker. Turing instabilities are not enough to ensure pattern formation. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Full text.
  7. M. P. Bambic, N. A. M. Araújo, B. J. Walker, D. R. Hewitt, Q. X. Pei, R. Ni, G. Volpe (2024). Optimal face-to-face coupling for fast self-folding kirigami. Soft Matter. Full text.
  8. L. Koens, B. J. Walker. Viscous tubular-body theory for plane interfaces (2024). Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  9. M. P. Dalwadi, C. Moreau, E. A. Gaffney, B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto (2024). Generalised Jeffery's equations for rapidly spinning particles. Part 2: Helicoidal objects with chirality. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  10. M. P. Dalwadi, C. Moreau, E. A. Gaffney, K. Ishimoto, B. J. Walker (2024). Generalised Jeffery's equations for rapidly spinning particles. Part 1: Spheroids. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.

    2023

  11. B. J. Walker, A. K. Townsend, A. K. Chudasama, A. L. Krause (2023). VisualPDE: rapid interactive simulations of partial differential equations. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Full text.
  12. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2023). Systematic parameterisations of minimal models of microswimming. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  13. B. J. Walker, G. L. Celora, A. Goriely, D. E. Moulton, H. M. Byrne (2023). Minimal morphoelastic models of solid tumour spheroids: a tutorial. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Full text.
  14. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2023). A hydrodynamic slender-body theory for local rotation at zero Reynolds number. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  15. A. L. Krause, E. A. Gaffney, B. J. Walker (2023). Concentration-dependent domain evolution in reaction-diffusion systems. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. Full text.

    2022

  16. B. J. Walker, A. T. Dawes (2022). Modelling mechanically dominated vasculature development. Frontiers in Systems Biology. Full text.
  17. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, C. Moreau, E. A. Gaffney, M. P. Dalwadi (2022). Emergent rheotaxis of shape-changing swimmers in Poiseuille flow. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  18. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney, C. Moreau (2022). The control of particles in the Stokes limit. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  19. E. A. Gaffney, M. P. Dalwadi, C. Moreau, K. Ishimoto, B. J. Walker (2022). Canonical orbits for rapidly deforming planar microswimmers in shear flow. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  20. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney, C. Moreau, M. P. Dalwadi (2022). The effects of rapid yawing on simple swimmer models and planar Jeffery's orbits. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.

    21. 2021

  21. C. Moreau, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney, B. J. Walker (2021). Control and controllability of microswimmers by a shearing flow. Royal Society Open Science.
  22. E. A. Gaffney, K. Ishimoto, B. J. Walker (2021). Modelling motility: the mathematics of spermatozoa. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. Full text.
  23. B. J. Walker, E. A. Gaffney (2021). Regularised non-uniform segments and efficient no-slip elastohydrodynamics. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  24. L. S. Kimpton, B. J. Walker, C. L. Hall, B. Bintu, D. Crosby, H. M. Byrne, A. Goriely (2021). A morphoelastic shell model of the eye. Journal of Elasticity.

    25. 2020

  25. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2020). Efficient simulation of filament elastohydrodynamics in three dimensions. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  26. K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney, B. J. Walker (2020). Regularized representation of bacterial hydrodynamics. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  27. B. J. Walker, M. P. Curtis, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2020). A regularised slender-body theory of non-uniform filaments. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  28. B. J. Walker, S. Phuyal, K. Ishimoto, C. Tung, E. A. Gaffney (2020). Computer-assisted beat-pattern analysis and the flagellar waveforms of bovine spermatozoa. Royal Society Open Science. Full text.

    29. 2019

  29. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, H. Gadêlha, E. A. Gaffney (2019). Filament mechanics in a half-space via regularised Stokeslet segments. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Full text.
  30. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2019). The pairwise hydrodynamic interactions of synchronized spermatozoa. Physical Review Fluids. Full text.
  31. B. J. Walker, R. J. Wheeler (2019). High-speed multifocal plane fluorescence microscopy for three-dimensional visualisation of beating flagella. Journal of Cell Science. Full text.
  32. B. J. Walker, K. Ishimoto, R. J. Wheeler (2019). Automated identification of flagella from videomicroscopy via the medial axis transform. Scientific Reports. Full text.
  33. B. J. Walker, R. J. Wheeler, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2019). Boundary behaviours of Leishmania mexicana: A hydrodynamic simulation study. Journal of Theoretical Biology. Full text.

    34. 2018

  34. B. J. Walker, R. J. Wheeler, K. Ishimoto, E. A. Gaffney (2018). Response of monoflagellate pullers to a shearing flow: A simulation study of microswimmer guidance. Physical Review E. Full text.