Migration of semiflexible polymers in microcapillary flow
Abstract
The non-equilibrium structural and dynamical properties of a semiflexible polymer confined in a cylindrical microchannel and exposed to a Poiseuille flow is studied by mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. For a polymer with a length half of its persistence length, large variations in orientation and conformations are found as a function of radial distance and flow strength. In particular, the polymer exhibits U-shaped conformations near the channel center. Hydrodynamic interactions lead to strong cross-streamline migration. Outward migration is governed by the polymer orientation and the corresponding anisotropy in its diffusivity. Strong tumbling motion is observed, with a tumbling time which exhibits the same dependence on Peclet number as a polymer in shear flow.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1006.4485,
title = {Migration of semiflexible polymers in microcapillary flow},
author = {Raghunath Chelakkot and Roland. G. Winkler and Gerhard Gompper},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1006.4485},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
6 pages, 7 figures, accepted by EPL