Related papers: Nonlinear microrheology with time-dependent forces…
The analysis of the dynamics of tracer particles in a complex bath can provide valuable information about the microscopic behaviour of the bath. In this work, we study the dynamics of a forced tracer in a colloidal bath by means of Langevin…
The viscoelastic dynamics of nano-confined water is studied by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM). We observe a nonlinear viscoelastic behavior remarkably similar to that widely observed in metastable complex fluids. We show that the…
This paper presents a framework for modeling failure in quasi-brittle geomaterials under different loading conditions. A micromechanics-based model is proposed in which the field variables are linked to physical mechanisms at the microcrack…
We propose and analyze a simple model for the evolution of an immersed, inextensible filament which incorporates linear viscoelastic effects of the surrounding fluid. The model is a closed-form system of equations along the curve only which…
Viscoelasticity governs the locomotion strategies of deformable microorganisms, rendering it a fundamental mechanical property of microbial motility and an integral component in the design of envisioned microbots. Recent studies have shown…
Complex fluids subjected to localized microscopic energy inputs, typical of active microrheology setups, exhibit poorly understood nonequilibrium behaviors because of the intricate self-organization of their mesoscopic constituents. In this…
This paper applies the theory of rate-independent systems to model the locomotion of bio-mimetic soft crawlers. We prove the well-posedness of the approach and illustrate how the various strategies adopted by crawlers to achieve locomotion,…
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…
A time-dependent approach is used to explore inelastic effects during electron transport through few-level systems. We study a tight-binding chain with one and two sites connected to vibrations. This simple but transparent model gives…
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…
We use a combination of original light scattering techniques and particles with unique optical properties to investigate the behavior of suspensions of attractive colloids under gravitational stress, following over time the concentration…
We present a novel theory of the adhesive contact of linear viscoelastic materials against rigid substrates moving at constant velocity. Despite the non-conservative behavior of the system, the closure equation of the contact problem can be…
A colloidal particle embedded in a fluid can be used as a microscopic heat engine by means of a sequence of cyclic transformations imposed by an optical trap. We investigate a model for the operation of such kind of Brownian engines when…
We study the induced interaction between multiple probes locally interacting with driven colloids and trapped in a toroidal geometry. The effective binary forces between the probes break the action-reaction principle and their range…
We study the solid mechanical properties of several thixotropic suspensions as a function of the shear stress history applied during their flow stoppage and their aging in their solid state. We show that their elastic modulus and yield…
A discussion on the viscoelastic properties of weakly attractive colloids and the relation to a newly developed percolation theory is presented. The need for taking into account the particle-particle bond lifetime in order to compare…
In the vicinity of their glass transition, dense colloidal suspensions acquire elastic properties over experimental timescales. We investigate the possibility of a visco-elastic flow instability in curved geometry for such materials. To…
The unique ability of a red blood cell to flow through extremely small microcapillaries depends on the viscoelastic properties of its membrane. Here, we study in vitro the response time upon flow startup exhibited by red blood cells…
We employ computer simulations to study the dynamics of a self-propelled spherical tracer particle in a viscoelastic medium, made of a long polymer chain. Here, the interplay between viscoelasticity, stickiness, and activity…
We investigate a driven, one-dimensional system of colloidal particles in a periodically currogated narrow channel subject to a time-delayed feedback control. Our goal is to identify conditions under which the control induces oscillatory,…