Related papers: Durotaxis in viscoelastic fluids
Two models involving particles moving by ``hopping'' in disordered media are investigated: I) A model glass-forming liquid is investigated by molecular dynamics under (pseudo-) equilibrium conditions. ``Standard'' results such as mean…
The emergent fluctuating hydrodynamics of a viscoelastic fluid modeled by the multiparticle collision dynamics (MPC) approach is studied. The fluid is composed of flexible, Gaussian phantom polymers, which interact by local…
Locomotion is typically studied either in continuous media where bodies and legs experience forces generated by the flowing medium, or on solid substrates dominated by friction. In the former, centralized coordination is believed to…
Ensembles of particles rotating in a two-dimensional fluid can exhibit chaotic dynamics yet develop signatures of hidden order. Such "rotors" are found in the natural world spanning vastly disparate length scales - from the rotor proteins…
Over times shorter than that required for relaxation of enthalpy, a liquid can exhibit striking heterogeneities. The picture of these heterogeneities is complex with transient patches of rigidity, irregular yet persistent, intersected by…
Hydrodynamical interactions of active micro-particles are pervasive in our planet's fluid environments. Hence, understanding the interactions of these self-propelled particles is essential for science and engineering. In this paper the…
Bacteria in biofilms form complex structures and can collectively migrate within mobile aggregates, which is referred to as swarming. This behavior is influenced by a combination of various factors, including morphological characteristics…
We investigate the dynamics of the two-dimensional periodic Kolmogorov flow of a viscoelastic fluid, described by the Oldroyd-B model, by means of direct numerical simulations. Above a critical Weissenberg number the flow displays a…
Viscoelastic fluids are a common subclass of rheologically complex materials that are encountered in diverse fields from biology to polymer processing. Often the flows of viscoelastic fluids are unstable in situations where ordinary…
Motivated by recent advances in the investigation of fluctuation-driven ratchets and flows in excited granular media, we have carried out experimental and simulational studies to explore the horizontal transport of granular particles in a…
Transport phenomena in complex and dynamic microscopic environments are fundamentally shaped by hydrodynamic interactions. In particular, microparticle transport in porous media is governed by the delicate interplay between…
Active suspensions encompass a wide range of complex fluids containing microscale energy-injecting particles, such as cells, bacteria or artificially powered active colloids. Because they are intrinsically non-equilibrium, active…
We study the dynamics of a polymer that is pulled by a constant force through a viscoelastic medium. This is a model for a polymer being pulled through a cell by an external force, or for an active biopolymer moving due to a self generated…
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…
We introduce a system where an elastic lattice of particles is moved slowly at a constant velocity under the influence of a local external potential, construct a rigid-body model through simplification processes, and show that the two…
Most passive droplet transport strategies rely on spatial variations of material properties to drive droplet motion, leading to gradient-based mechanisms with intrinsic length scales that limit the droplet velocity or the transport…
To explore and react to their environment, living micro-swimmers have developed sophisticated strategies for locomotion - in particular, motility with multiple gaits. To understand the physical principles associated with such a behavioural…
In this paper we describe a method for modeling the dynamic behavior of splashing fluids. The model simulates the behavior of a fluid when objects impact or float on its surface. The forces generated by the objects create waves and splashes…
Geometric confinements are frequently encountered in the biological world and strongly affect the stability, topology, and transport properties of active suspensions in viscous flow. Based on a far-field analytical model, the…
Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the slow dynamics of supercooled liquids confined in a random matrix of immobile obstacles. We study the dynamical crossover from glass-like to Lorentz-gas-like behavior in terms of the density…