Related papers: Rheology of active fluids
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…
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…
We explore a mechanism of the anomalous rheology of active suspensions by hydrodynamic simulations using model pusher swimmers. Our simulations demonstrate that hydrodynamic interactions under shear flow systematically orient swimmers along…
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…
Many microorganisms find themselves immersed in fluids displaying non-Newtonian rheological properties such as viscoelasticity and shear-thinning viscosity. The effects of viscoelasticity on swimming at low Reynolds numbers have already…
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…
Blood is a complex suspension that demonstrates several non-Newtonian rheological characteristics such as deformation-rate dependency, viscoelasticity and yield stress. In this paper we outline some issues related to the non-Newtonian…
Particle motion in non-Newtonian fluids can be markedly different than in Newtonian fluids. Here we look at the change in dynamics for a few problems involving rigid spherical particles in shear-thinning fluids in the absence of inertia. We…
We study the interplay of activity, order and flow through a set of coarse-grained equations governing the hydrodynamic velocity, concentration and stress fields in a suspension of active, energy-dissipating particles. We make several…
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…
We consider active suspensions in the isotropic phase subjected to a shear flow. Using a set of extended hydrodynamic equations we derive a variety of {\em analytical} expressions for rheological quantities such as shear viscosity and…
In isotropic fluids like water, micrometer-scale swimmers have evolved swim strokes to translate despite their tiny size. As described by Purcell in his Scallop Theorem, reciprocal motions, like those performed by a scallop, cannot drive…
We study the flow of a generalized Newtonian fluid, characterized by a power-law model, through a channel consisting of a wall with a flexible membrane under longitudinal tension. It is assumed that at steady state the flow through the…
We here present two simplified models aimed at describing the long-term, irregular behaviours observed in the rheological response of certain complex fluids, such as periodic oscillations or chaotic-like variations. Both models exploit the…
Swimming microorganisms often self propel in fluids with complex rheology. While past theoretical work indicates that fluid viscoelasticity should hinder their locomotion, recent experiments on waving swimmers suggest a possible…
Rheotaxis is a well-known phenomenon among microbial organisms and artificial active colloids, wherein the swimmers respond to an imposed flow. We report the first experimental evidence of upstream rheotaxis by spherical active droplets. It…
In this review we summarize theoretical progress in the field of active matter, placing it in the context of recent experiments. Our approach offers a unified framework for the mechanical and statistical properties of living matter:…
We derive a general formula for the inertialess dynamics of active particles in linear viscoelastic fluids by means of a modified reciprocal theorem. We then demonstrate that force-free active particles in Maxwell-like linear viscoelastic…
Many colloidal systems display very non-Newtonian and solid-like behaviour when concentrated, a striking feature being the apparition of a yield stress. After recalling some basics about the interactions between colloidal particles, I…