scholarly journals Emergence of Lanes and Turbulent-like Motion in Active Spinner Fluid

Author(s):  
Cody Reeves ◽  
Igor Aronson ◽  
Petia Vlahovska

Abstract Assemblies of self-rotating particles are gaining interest as a novel realization of active matter with unique collective behaviors such as edge currents and non-trivial dynamic states. Here, we develop a continuum model derived from coarse-grained equations of motions for a system of discrete spinners. We apply the model to explore the mixtures of spinners and same-spin phase separation. We find that the dynamics is strikingly sensitive to fluid inertia: In the inertialess system, after transient turbulent-like motion the spinners segregate and form steady traffic lanes. Contrary, at small but finite Reynolds number, the turbulent-like motion is sustained and the spinner population exhibit a chirality breaking transition: only population with a certain sense of rotation survives. The results shed light on the dynamic behavior of non-equilibrium materials exemplified by active spinners.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody J. Reeves ◽  
Igor S. Aranson ◽  
Petia M. Vlahovska

AbstractAssemblies of self-rotating particles are gaining interest as a novel realization of active matter with unique collective behaviors such as edge currents and non-trivial dynamic states. Here, we develop a continuum model for a system of fluid-embedded spinners by coarse-graining the equations of motion of the discrete particles. We apply the model to explore mixtures of clockwise and counterclockwise rotating spinners. We find that the dynamics is sensitive to fluid inertia; in the inertialess system, after transient turbulent-like motion the spinners segregate and form steady traffic lanes. At small but finite Reynolds number instead, the turbulent-like motion persists and the system exhibits a chirality breaking transition leading to a single rotation sense state. Our results shed light on the dynamic behavior of non-equilibrium materials exemplified by active spinners.


2016 ◽  
Vol 802 ◽  
pp. 174-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Candelier ◽  
B. Mehlig

We compute the hydrodynamic torque on a dumbbell (two spheres linked by a massless rigid rod) settling in a quiescent fluid at small but finite Reynolds number. The spheres have the same mass densities but different sizes. When the sizes are quite different, the dumbbell settles vertically, aligned with the direction of gravity, the largest sphere first. But when the size difference is sufficiently small, then its steady-state angle is determined by a competition between the size difference and the Reynolds number. When the sizes of the spheres are exactly equal, then fluid inertia causes the dumbbell to settle in a horizontal orientation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 722 ◽  
pp. 159-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukalyan Bhattacharya ◽  
Dil K. Gurung ◽  
Shahin Navardi

AbstractThis article describes the radial drift of a suspended sphere in a cylinder-bound Poiseuille flow where the Reynolds number is small but finite. Unlike past studies, it considers a circular narrow conduit whose cross-sectional diameter is only $1. 5$–$6$ times the particle diameter. Thus, the analysis quantifies the effect of fluid inertia on the radial motion of the particle in the channel when the flow field is significantly influenced by the presence of the suspended body. To this end, the hydrodynamic fields are expanded as a series in Reynolds number, and a set of hierarchical equations for different orders of the expansion is derived. Accordingly, the zeroth-order fields in Reynolds number satisfy the Stokes equation, which is accurately solved in the presence of the spherical particle and the cylindrical conduit. Then, recognizing that in narrow vessels Stokesian scattered fields from the sphere decrease exponentially in the axial direction, a simpler regular perturbation scheme is used to quantify the first-order inertial correction to hydrodynamic quantities. Consequently, it is possible to obtain two results. First, the sphere is assumed to follow the axial motion of a freely suspended sphere in a Stokesian condition, and the radial lift force on it due to the presence of fluid inertia is evaluated. Then, the approximate motion is determined for a freely suspended body on which net hydrodynamic force including first-order inertial lift is zero. The results agree well with the available experimental results. Thus, this study along with the measured data would precisely describe particle dynamics inside narrow tubes.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1576
Author(s):  
Biswaroop Mukherjee ◽  
Buddhapriya Chakrabarti

Surface segregation of the low molecular weight component of a polymeric mixture is a ubiquitous phenomenon that leads to degradation of industrial formulations. We report a simultaneous phase separation and surface migration phenomena in oligomer–polymer ( O P ) and oligomer–gel ( O G ) systems following a temperature quench that induces demixing of components. We compute equilibrium and time varying migrant (oligomer) density profiles and wetting layer thickness in these systems using coarse grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) and mesoscale hydrodynamics (MH) simulations. Such multiscale methods quantitatively describe the phenomena over a wide range of length and time scales. We show that surface migration in gel–oligomer systems is significantly reduced on account of network elasticity. Furthermore, the phase separation processes are significantly slowed in gels leading to the modification of the well known Lifshitz–Slyozov–Wagner (LSW) law ℓ ( τ ) ∼ τ 1 / 3 . Our work allows for rational design of polymer/gel–oligomer mixtures with predictable surface segregation characteristics that can be compared against experiments.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakarya Benayad ◽  
Sören von Bülow ◽  
Lukas S. Stelzl ◽  
Gerhard Hummer

AbstractDisordered proteins and nucleic acids can condense into droplets that resemble the membraneless organelles observed in living cells. MD simulations offer a unique tool to characterize the molecular interactions governing the formation of these biomolecular condensates, their physico-chemical properties, and the factors controlling their composition and size. However, biopolymer condensation depends sensitively on the balance between different energetic and entropic contributions. Here, we develop a general strategy to fine-tune the potential energy function for molecular dynamics simulations of biopolymer phase separation. We rebalance protein-protein interactions against solvation and entropic contributions to match the excess free energy of transferring proteins between dilute solution and condensate. We illustrate this formalism by simulating liquid droplet formation of the FUS low complexity domain (LCD) with a rebalanced MARTINI model. By scaling the strength of the nonbonded interactions in the coarse-grained MARTINI potential energy function, we map out a phase diagram in the plane of protein concentration and interaction strength. Above a critical scaling factor of αc ≈ 0.6, FUS LCD condensation is observed, where α = 1 and 0 correspond to full and repulsive interactions in the MARTINI model, respectively. For a scaling factor α = 0.65, we recover the experimental densities of the dilute and dense phases, and thus the excess protein transfer free energy into the droplet and the saturation concentration where FUS LCD condenses. In the region of phase separation, we simulate FUS LCD droplets of four different sizes in stable equilibrium with the dilute phase and slabs of condensed FUS LCD for tens of microseconds, and over one millisecond in aggregate. We determine surface tensions in the range of 0.01 to 0.4mN/m from the fluctuations of the droplet shape and from the capillary-wave-like broadening of the interface between the two phases. From the dynamics of the protein end-to-end distance, we estimate shear viscosities from 0.001 to 0.02Pas for the FUS LCD droplets with scaling factors α in the range of 0.625 to 0.75, where we observe liquid droplets. Significant hydration of the interior of the droplets keeps the proteins mobile and the droplets fluid.


2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 102a
Author(s):  
Timothy S. Carpenter ◽  
Cesar A. Lopez ◽  
Chris Neale ◽  
Helgi I. Ingolfsson ◽  
Cameron Montour ◽  
...  

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