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Transport of fluid through a pipe is essential for the operation of macroscale machines and microfluidic devices. Conventional fluids only flow in response to external pressure. We demonstrate that an active isotropic fluid, comprised of…
We study transport in synthetic, bi-disperse porous structures, with arrays of microchannels interconnected by a nanoporous layer. These structures are inspired by the xylem tissue in vascular plants, in which sap water travels from the…
The electroosmotic flow of non-Newtonian fluids in deformable microchannels is fundamentally important in the understanding of the hydrodynamics in physiological flows. The performance of these microchannels is governed by the load bearing…
Although research studies in pneumatic soft robots develop rapidly, most pneumatic actuators are still controlled by rigid valves and conventional electronics. The existence of these rigid, electronic components sacrifices the compliance…
Surface-driven flows are ubiquitous in nature, from subcellular cytoplasmic streaming to organ-scale ciliary arrays. Here, we model how confined geometries can be used to engineer complex hydrodynamic patterns driven by activity prescribed…
We consider an anisotropically two-dimensional diffusion of a charged molecule (particle) through a large biological channel under an external voltage. The channel is modeled as a cylinder of three structure parameters: radius, length, and…
Soft robots are intrinsically capable of adapting to different environments by changing their shape in response to interaction forces with the environment. However, sensing and feedback are still required for higher level decisions and…
Recent experiments have shown that when a near-hemispherical lipid vesicle attached to a solid surface is subjected to a simple shear flow it exhibits a pattern of membrane circulation much like a dipole vortex. This is in marked contrast…
Oscillating sharp edges have been employed to achieve rapid and homogeneous mixing in microchannels using acoustic streaming. Here we use a perturbation approach to study the flow around oscillating sharp edges in a microchannel. This work…
Engineering synthetic materials that mimic the remarkable complexity of living organisms is a fundamental challenge in science and technology. We study the spatiotemporal patterns that emerge when an active nematicfilm of microtubules and…
Incorporating the inherent heterogeneity of living systems into models of active nematics is essential to provide a more realistic description of biological processes such as bacterial growth, cell dynamics and tissue development.…
It is well known that jammed soft materials will flow if sheared above their yield stress - think mayonnaise spread on bread - but a complete microscopic description of this seemingly sim- ple process has yet to emerge. What remains elusive…
Droplet-based microfluidics systems have become widely used in recent years thanks to their advantages, varying from the possibility of handling small fluid volumes to directly synthesizing and encapsulating various living forms for…
Using novel micro-printing techniques, we develop a versatile experimental setup that allows us to study how lateral confinement tames the active flows and defect properties of the microtubule/kinesin active nematic system. We demonstrate…
Angstrom-scale fluidic channels are ubiquitous in nature, and play an important role in regulating cellular traffic, signaling, and responding to stimuli. Synthetic channels are now a reality with the emergence of several cutting-edge…
The displacement of a fluid by another less viscous one in a quasi-two dimensional geometry typically leads to complex fingering patterns. In an isotropic system, dense-branching growth arises, which is characterized by repeated…
Tiny cilia drive the flow of surrounding fluids through asymmetric jumping, which is one of the main ways for biological organisms to control fluid transport at the micro-scale. Due to its huge application prospects in medical and…
It is known from both experiments and molecular dynamics simulations that chemically patterning a solid surface has an effect on the flow of an adjacent liquid. This fact is in stark contrast with predictions of classical fluid mechanics…
The linear stability of a shear-thinning, viscoelastic fluid undergoing any of the canonical rectilinear shear flows, viz., plane Couette flow and pressure-driven flow through a channel or a tube is analyzed in the creeping-flow limit using…
Encapsulation of chemicals using polymer membranes enables to control their transport and delivery for applications such as agrochemistry or detergency. To rationalize the design of polymer capsules, it is necessary to understand how the…