Dynamics of Erythrocytes in Oscillatory Shear Flows: Effects of S/V Ratio

By combining a multiscale structural model of erythrocyte with a fluid-cell interaction model based on the boundary-integral method, we numerically investigate the dynamic response of erythrocytes in oscillatory shear flows...

The boundary integral equation for curved solid/liquid interfaces propagating into a binary liquid with convection

The boundary integral method is developed for unsteady solid/liquid interfaces propagating into undercooled binary liquids with convection. A single integrodifferential equation for the interface function is derived using the Green function technique. In the limiting cases, the obtained unsteady convective boundary integral equation (CBIE) transforms into a previously developed theory. This integral is simplified for the steady-state growth in arbitrary curvilinear coordinates when the solid/liquid interface is isothermal (isoconcentration). Finally, we evaluate the boundary integral for a binary melt with a forced flow and analyze how the melt undercooling depends on P\'eclet and Reynolds numbers.

A model of an inflatable elastic aerofoil

A novel method is presented to calculate the deformation of a simple elastic aerofoil with a view to determining its aerodynamic viability. The aerofoil is modelled as a thin two-dimensional elastic sheet whose ends are joined together to form a corner of prescribed angle, with a simple support included to constrain the shape to resemble that of a classical aerofoil. The weight of the aerofoil is counterbalanced exactly by the lift force due to a circulation set according to the Kutta condition. An iterative process based on a boundary integral method is used to compute the deformation of the aerofoil in response to an inviscid fluid flow, and a range of flow speeds is determined for which the aerofoil maintains an aerodynamic shape. As the flow speed is increased the aerofoil deforms significantly around its trailing edge, resulting in a negative camber and a loss of lift. The loss of lift is ameliorated by increasing the inflation pressure but at the expense of an increase in drag as the aerofoil bulges into a less aerodynamic shape. Boundary layer calculations and nonlinear unsteady viscous simulations are used to analyse the aerodynamic characteristics of the deformed aerofoil in a viscous flow. By tailoring the internal support the viscous boundary layer separation can be delayed and the lift-to-drag ratio of the aerofoil can be substantially increased.

Optimal ciliary locomotion of axisymmetric microswimmers

Many biological microswimmers locomote by periodically beating the densely packed cilia on their cell surface in a wave-like fashion. While the swimming mechanisms of ciliated microswimmers have been extensively studied both from the analytical and the numerical point of view, optimisation of the ciliary motion of microswimmers has received limited attention, especially for non-spherical shapes. In this paper, using an envelope model for the microswimmer, we numerically optimise the ciliary motion of a ciliate with an arbitrary axisymmetric shape. Forward solutions are found using a fast boundary-integral method, and the efficiency sensitivities are derived using an adjoint-based method. Our results show that a prolate microswimmer with a $2\,{:}\,1$ aspect ratio shares similar optimal ciliary motion as the spherical microswimmer, yet the swimming efficiency can increase two-fold. More interestingly, the optimal ciliary motion of a concave microswimmer can be qualitatively different from that of the spherical microswimmer, and adding a constraint to the cilia length is found to improve, on average, the efficiency for such swimmers.

Boundary integrals for oscillating bodies in stratified fluids

The theoretical foundations of the boundary integral method are considered for inviscid monochromatic internal waves, and an analytical approach is presented for the solution of the boundary integral equation for oscillating bodies of simple shape: an elliptic cylinder in two dimensions, and a spheroid in three dimensions. The method combines the coordinate stretching introduced by Bryan and Hurley in the frequency range of evanescent waves, with analytic continuation to the range of propagating waves by Lighthill's radiation condition. Not only are the waves obtained for arbitrary oscillations of the body, with application to radial pulsations and rigid vibrations, but also the distribution of singularities equivalent to the body, allowing later inclusion of viscosity in the theory. Both a direct representation of the body as a Kirchhoff–Helmholtz integral involving single and double layers together, and an indirect representation involving a single layer alone, are considered. The indirect representation is seen to require a certain degree of symmetry of the body with respect to the horizontal and the vertical. As the surface of the body is approached the single- and double-layer potentials exhibit the same discontinuities as in classical potential theory.

Spectral boundary integral method for simulating static and dynamic fields from a fault rupture in a poroelastodynamic solid

The spectral boundary integral method is popular for simulating fault, fracture, and frictional processes at a planar interface. However, the method is less commonly used to simulate off-fault dynamic fields. Here we develop a spectral boundary integral method for poroelastodynamic solid. The method has two steps: first, a numerical approximation of a convolution kernel and second, an efficient temporal convolution of slip speed and the appropriate kernel. The first step is computationally expensive but easily parallelizable and scalable such that the computational time is mostly restricted by computational resources. The kernel is independent of the slip history such that the same kernel can be used to explore a wide range of slip scenarios. We apply the method by exploring the short-time dynamic and static responses: first, with a simple source at intermediate and far-field distances and second, with a complex near-field source. We check if similar results can be attained with dynamic elasticity and undrained pore-pressure response and conclude that such an approach works well in the near-field but not necessarily at an intermediate and far-field distance. We analyze the dynamic pore-pressure response and find that the P-wave arrival carries a significant pore pressure peak that may be observed in high sampling rate pore-pressure measurements. We conclude that a spectral boundary integral method may offer a viable alternative to other approaches where the bulk is discretized, providing a better understanding of the near-field dynamics of the bulk in response to finite fault ruptures.