English

Flow states and transitions of an active nematic in a three dimensional channel

Soft Condensed Matter 2020-10-07 v1

Abstract

We use active nematohydrodynamics to study the flow of an active fluid in a 3D microchannel, finding a transition between active turbulence and regimes where there is a net flow along the channel. We show that the net flow is only possible if the active nematic is flow aligning and that - in agreement with experiments - the appearance of the net flow depends on the aspect ratio of the channel cross-section. We explain our results in terms of the when hydrodynamic screening due to the channel walls allows the emergence of vortex rolls across the channel.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.05263,
  title  = {Flow states and transitions of an active nematic in a three dimensional channel},
  author = {Santhan Chandragiri and Amin Doostmohammadi and Julia M. Yeomans and Sumesh P. Thampi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.05263},
  year   = {2020}
}