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Paints and coatings often feature interfacial defects due to disturbances during the deposition process which, if they persist until solidification, worsen the product quality. In this article, we investigate the stability of a thin liquid…
We discuss how the wettability and roughness of a solid impacts its hydrodynamic properties. We see in particular that hydrophobic slippage can be dramatically affected by the presence of roughness. Owing to the development of refined…
One possibility to adjust material properties to a specific need is to embed units of one substance into a matrix of another substance. Even materials that are readily tunable during operation can be generated in this way. In (visco)elastic…
Many fluid-dynamical systems met in nature are quasi-two-dimensional: they are constrained to evolve in approximately two dimensions with little or no variation along the third direction. This has a drastic effect in the flow evolution…
The interaction of a buoyant plume with a plant canopy results in turbulent flow features distinct from those in a grassland environment. In this work, we model the turbulence dynamics of a buoyant plume in a homogeneous plant canopy with a…
The dynamics of fibres, modelled as a sequence of inertial beads linked via elastic springs, in turbulent flows is dictated by a non-trivial interplay of their inertia and elasticity. Such elastic, inertial fibres preferentially sample a…
Growing a flat lamina such as a leaf is almost impossible without some feedback to stabilize long wavelength modes that are easy to trigger since they are energetically cheap. Here we combine the physics of thin elastic plates with feedback…
Local rearrangements are the elements of plastic deformation in an amorphous solid. In oscillatory shear, they can switch reversibly between two distinct configurations. While these repeating relaxations are typically considered in the…
The 3D flying shape of a real-scale 8 square meters iQFOiL class windsurf sail is measured in steady state sailing configurations. The sea wind flow conditions are simulated in a large-scale wind tunnel and stereo camera imaging technique…
Flapping insects are remarkably agile fliers, adapted to a highly turbulent environment. We present a series of high resolution numerical simulations of a bumblebee interacting with turbulent inflow. We consider both tethered and free…
We study the Lagrangian dynamics of semi-flexible macromolecules in laminar as well as in homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows by means of analytically solvable stochastic models and direct numerical simulations. The statistics of the…
A new model for biological growth is introduced that couples the geometry of an organism (or part of the organism) to the flow and deposition of material. The model has three dynamical variables (a) a Riemann metric tensor for the geometry,…
Certain spatial distributions of water inside partially filled containers can significantly reduce the bounce of the container. In experiments with containers filled to a volume fraction $\phi$, we show that rotation offers control and high…
A flexible sheet in uniform parallel flow is studied in order to quantify its fluid dynamic drag and fluid-elastic stability characteristics. An experimental campaign is undertaken that involves a cantilevered sheet in air flow…
We study contact line induced instabilities for a thin film of fluid under destabilizing gravitational force in three dimensional setting. In the previous work (Phys. Fluids, {\bf 22}, 052105 (2010)), we considered two dimensional flow,…
Biological locomotion, observed in the flexible wings of birds and insects, bodies and fins of aquatic mammals and fishes, consists of their ability to morph the wings/fins. The morphing capability holds significance in the abilities of…
The fragmentation of small, brittle, flexible, inextensible fibers is investigated in a fully-developed, homogeneous, isotropic turbulent flow. Such small fibers spend most of their time fully stretched and their dynamics follows that of…
We investigate experimentally the drying of a small volume of perfectly wetting liquid on two crossed fibers. We characterize the drying dynamics for the three liquid morphologies that are encountered in this geometry: drop, column and a…
We tackle the challenging problem of creating full and accurate three dimensional reconstructions of botanical trees with the topological and geometric accuracy required for subsequent physical simulation, e.g. in response to wind forces.…
We employ detailed numerical simulations to probe the mechanism of flow reversals in two-dimensional turbulent convection. We show that the reversals occur via vortex reconnection of two attracting corner rolls having same sign of…