Related papers: Rotational dynamics of a soft filament: wrapping t…
The physical mechanisms that bring about the propulsion of a rotating helix in a granular medium are considered. A propulsive motion along the axis of the rotating helix is induced by both symmetry breaking due to the helical shape, and the…
We study the lubrication of fluid-immersed soft interfaces and show that elastic deformation couples tangential and normal forces and thus generates lift. We consider materials that deform easily, due to either geometry (e.g. a shell) or…
We theoretically study the conformations of a helical semi-flexible filament confined to a flat surface. This squeezed helix exhibits a variety of unexpected shapes resembling circles, waves or spirals depending on the material parameters.…
We investigate the gravitational settling of a long, model elastic filament in homogeneous isotropic turbulence. We show that the flow produces a strongly fluctuating settling velocity, whose mean is moderately enhanced over the still-fluid…
The morphological dynamics, instabilities and transitions of elastic filaments in viscous flows underlie a wealth of biophysical processes from flagellar propulsion to intracellular streaming, and are also key to deciphering the rheological…
To investigate the link between discrete, small-scale and continuous, large scale mechanical properties of a foam, we observe its two-dimensional flow in a channel, around an elliptical obstacle. We measure the drag, lift and torque acting…
The dynamic of contact formation between soft materials immersed in a fluid is accompanied by fluid drainage and elastic deformation. As a result, controlling the coupling between lubrication pressure and elasticity provides strategies to…
We study the kinematics and dynamics of a highly compliant membrane disk placed head-on in a uniform flow. With increasing flow velocity, the membrane deforms nonlinearly into increasingly parachute-like shapes. These aerodynamically…
The effects of large scale mechanical forcing on the dynamics of rotating turbulent flows are studied by means of numerical simulations, varying systematically the nature of the mechanical force in time. We demonstrate that the…
We use numerical simulations to show how a fully flexible filament binding to a deformable cylindrical surface may acquire a macroscopic persistence length and a helical conformation. This is a result of the nontrivial elastic response to…
Motivated by the motion of biopolymers and membranes in solution, this article presents a formulation of the equations of motion for curves and surfaces in a viscous fluid. We focus on geometrical aspects and simple variational methods for…
The equilibrium state of a flexible fiber settling in a viscous fluid is examined using a combination of macroscopic experiments, numerical simulations and scaling arguments. We identify three regimes having different signatures on this…
Worm-like filaments that are propelled homogeneously along their tangent vector are studied by Brownian dynamics simulations. Systems in two dimensions are investigated, corresponding to filaments adsorbed to interfaces or surfaces. A large…
The dynamics of a stiff filament (made by connecting beads) embedded in size-polydisperse hard sphere fluid is investigated by means of molecular dynamics simulations with focus on how the degree of size-polydispersity, characterized by…
The occurrence of coiled or helical morphologies is common in nature, from plant roots to DNA packaging into viral capsids, as well as in applications such as oil drilling processes. In many examples, chiral structures result from the…
Soft slender structures are ubiquitous in natural and artificial systems and can be observed at scales that range from the nanometric to the kilometric, from polymers to space tethers. We present a practical numerical approach to simulate…
The shape assumed by a slender elastic structure is a function both of the geometry of the space in which it exists and the forces it experiences. We explore by experiments and theoretical analysis, the morphological phase-space of a…
A stiff one-armed swimmer in glycerine goes nowhere, but if its arm is elastic, exerting a restorative torque proportional to local curvature, the swimmer can go on its way. Considering this happy consequence and the principles of…
We address the fluid-structure interaction of flexible fin models oscillated in a water flow. Here, we investigate in particular the dependence of hydrodynamic force distributions on fin geometry and flapping frequency. For this purpose, we…
The physical properties of the so-called Ostriker isothermal, non-rotating filament have been classically used as benchmark to interpret the stability of the filaments observed in nearby clouds. However, such static picture seems to…