Related papers: Micropropulsion and microrheology in complex fluid…
Microorganisms such as bacteria often swim in fluid environments that cannot be classified as Newtonian. Many biological fluids contain polymers or other heterogeneities which may yield complex rheology. For a given set of boundary…
The biological fluids encountered by self-propelled cells display complex microstructures and rheology. We consider here the general problem of low-Reynolds number locomotion in a complex fluid. {Building on classical work on the transport…
In many biological systems, microorganisms swim through complex polymeric fluids, and usually deform the medium at a rate faster than the inverse fluid relaxation time. We address the basic properties of such life at high Deborah number…
The microstructure and rheological properties of suspensions of neutrally buoyant hard spherical particles in Newtonian fluid under conditions of finite inertia are studied using the lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM), which is based on a…
Many small organisms self-propel in viscous fluids using travelling wave-like deformation of their bodies or appendages. Examples include small nematodes moving through soil using whole-body undulations or spermatozoa swimming through mucus…
Flagella beating in complex fluids are significantly influenced by viscoelastic stresses. Relevant examples include the ciliary transport of respiratory airway mucus and the motion of spermatozoa in the mucus-filled female reproductive…
As the first endeavour, we have analyzed the pulsatile flow of Oldroyd-B viscoelastic fluid where the combined effects of fluid elasticity and pulsation parameters on the flow characteristics are numerically studied at a low Reynolds…
Many microorganisms swim through gels and non-Newtonian fluids in their natural environments. In this paper, we focus on microorganisms which use flagella for propulsion. We address how swimming velocities are affected in nonlinearly…
Microscale propulsion is integral to numerous biomedical systems, for example biofilm formation and human reproduction, where the surrounding fluids comprise suspensions of polymers. These polymers endow the fluid with non-Newtonian…
We review recent work on active colloids or swimmers, such as self-propelled microorganisms, phoretic colloidal particles, and artificial micro-robotic systems, moving in fluid-like environments. These environments can be water-like and…
Microswimmer suspensions in Newtonian fluids exhibit unusual macroscale properties, such as a superfluidic behavior, which can be harnessed to perform work at microscopic scales. Since most biological fluids are non-Newtonian, here we study…
Viscoelastic fluids play a critical role in various engineering and biological applications, where their lubrication properties are strongly influenced by relaxation times ranging from microseconds to minutes. Although the lubrication…
Fluids with internal microstructure like dense suspensions, biological and polymer added fluids, are commonly found in the turbulent regime in many applications. Their flow is extremely difficult to be studied as microstructure complexity…
Colloidal dispersions are commonly encountered in everyday life and represent an important class of complex fluid. Of particular significance for many commercial products and industrial processes is the ability to control and manipulate the…
In the absence of inertia, a reciprocal swimmer achieves no net motion in a viscous Newtonian fluid. Here, we investigate the ability of a reciprocally actuated particle to translate through a complex fluid that possesses a network using…
Under inhomogeneous flow, dense suspensions exhibit complex behaviour that violates the conventional homogenous rheology. Specifically, one finds flowing regions with a macroscopic friction coefficient below the yielding criterion, and…
Self-propulsion at low Reynolds number is notoriously restricted, a concept that is commonly known as the "scallop theorem". Here we present a truly self-propelled swimmer (force- and torque- free) that, while unable to swim in a Newtonian…
Micro/nano-scale propulsion has attracted considerable recent attention due to its promise for biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery. In this paper, we report on a new experimental design and theoretical modelling of…
Complex fluids, such as polymer solutions and blends, colloids and gels, are of growing interest in fundamental and applied soft-condensed-matter science. A common feature of all such systems is the presence of a mesoscopic structural…
We analyze the pressure-driven flow of a viscoelastic fluid in arbitrarily shaped, narrow channels and present a theoretical framework for calculating the relationship between the flow rate $q$ and pressure drop $\Delta p$. We utilize the…