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We study the deformation and motion of an erythrocyte in fluid flows via a lattice Boltzmann method. To this purpose, the bending rigidity and the elastic modulus of isotropic dilation are introduced and incorporated with the lattice…
We study what is clearly one of the most common modes of deformation found in nature, science and engineering, namely the large elastic bending of curved structures, as well as its inverse, unbending, which can be brought beyond complete…
We consider dense rapid shear flow of inelastically colliding hard disks. Navier-Stokes granular hydrodynamics is applied accounting for the recent finding \cite{Luding,Khain} that shear viscosity diverges at a lower density than the rest…
Cutting-edge smart materials are transforming the domains of soft robotics, actuators, and sensors by harnessing diverse non-mechanical stimuli, such as electric and magnetic fields. Accurately modelling their physical behaviour…
We theoretically study the elastic deformation of a fluid membrane induced by an adhering spherical colloidal particle within the framework of a Helfrich energy. Based on a full optimization of the membrane shape we find a continuous…
Active gel theory has recently been very successful in describing biologically active materials such as actin filaments or moving bacteria in temporally fixed and simple geometries such as cubes or spheres. Here we develop a computational…
Discrete simulation methods are efficient tools to investigate the complex behaviors of complex fluids made of either dry granular materials or dilute suspensions. By contrast, materials made of soft and/or concentrated units (emulsions,…
Using numerical simulations, we characterized the behavior of an elastic membrane immersed in an active fluid. Our findings reveal a nontrivial folding and re-expansion of the membrane that is controlled by the interplay of its resistance…
Combining molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation we study defect structures around an elongated colloidal particle embedded in a nematic liquid crystal host. By studying nematic ordering near the particle and the disclination core…
Wrinkling instabilities of thin elastic sheets can be used to generate periodic structures over a wide range of length scales. Viscosity of the thin elastic sheet or its surrounding medium has been shown to be responsible for dynamic…
We present a new system based on alginate gels for the encapsulation of a ferrofluid drop, which allows us to create millimeter-sized elastic capsules that are highly deformable by inhomogeneous magnetic fields. We use a combination of…
Wrinkling is the phenomenon of out-of-plane deformation patterns in thin walled structures, as a result of a local compressive (internal) loads in combination with a large membrane stiffness and a small but non-zero bending stiffness.…
We study the motion of an elastic capsule through a microchannel characterized by a localized constriction. We consider a capsule with a stress-free spherical shape and impose its steady state configuration in an infinitely long straight…
The transport of particles across lipid-bilayer membranes is important for biological cells to exchange information and material with their environment. Large particles often get wrapped by membranes, a process which has been intensively…
Biomembranes play a central role in various phenomena like locomotion of cells, cell-cell interactions, packaging of nutrients, and in maintaining organelle morphology and functionality. During these processes, the membranes undergo…
Finite elasticity problems commonly include material and geometric nonlinearities and are solved using various numerical methods. However, for highly nonlinear problems, achieving convergence is relatively difficult and requires small load…
Shear flow is known to induce huge density fluctuations in otherwise clear and uniform polymer solutions. This effect is rooted in the elasticity of the entangled polymer network, and can span distances over a thousand chains wide. It has…
Over the last number of years several simulation methods have been introduced to study rare events such as nucleation. In this paper we examine the crystal nucleation rate of hard spheres using three such numerical techniques: molecular…
The mechanical effects of membrane compositional inhomogeneities are analyzed in a process analogous of neck formation in cellular membranes. We cast on the Canham-Helfrich model of fluid membranes with both the spontaneous curvature and…
Endocytosis is an essential process by which cells internalize a piece of plasma membrane and material from the outside. In cells with turgor, pressure opposes membrane defor- mations, and increases the amount of force that has to be…