Self-sustained patchy turbulence in shear-thinning active fluids
Soft Condensed Matter
2025-07-03 v2 Fluid Dynamics
Abstract
Bacterial suspensions and other active fluids are known to develop highly dynamical vortex states, denoted as active or mesoscale turbulence. We reveal the pronounced effect of non-Newtonian rheological conditions on these turbulent states, concentrating on shear thinning. A self-sustained heterogeneous state of coexisting turbulent and quiescent areas develops, which results in anomalous velocity statistics. The heterogeneous state emerges in a hysteretic transition when varying activity. We provide an extensive numerical analysis and observe features consistent with a directed percolation transition. Our results are important, for instance, when addressing active objects in biological media with complex rheological properties.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2409.18576,
title = {Self-sustained patchy turbulence in shear-thinning active fluids},
author = {Henning Reinken and Andreas M. Menzel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.18576},
year = {2025}
}