Shear flow of active matter in thin channels

M. Carme Calderer, Dmitry Golovaty, Lingxing Yao, and Longhua Zhao
Phys. Rev. E 104, 034607 – Published 17 September 2021

Abstract

We study the shear flow of active filaments confined in a thin channel for extensile and contractile fibers. We apply the Ericksen-Leslie equations of liquid crystal flow with an activity source term. The dimensionless form of this system includes the Ericksen, activity, and Reynolds numbers, together with the aspect ratio of the channel, as the main driving parameters. We perform a normal mode stability analysis of the base shear flow. For both types of fibers, we arrive at a comprehensive description of the stability properties and their dependence on the parameters of the system. The transition to unstable frequencies in extensile fibers occurs at a positive threshold value of the activity parameter, whereas for contractile ones a complex behavior is found at low absolute value of the activity number. The latter might be an indication of the biologically relevant plasticity and phase transition issues. In contrast with extensile fibers, flows of contractile ones are also found to be highly sensitive to the Reynolds number. The work on extensile fibers is guided by experiments on active filaments in confined channels and aims at quantifying their findings in the prechaotic regime.

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  • Received 7 February 2021
  • Revised 13 June 2021
  • Accepted 6 July 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.104.034607

©2021 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

M. Carme Calderer

  • School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55442, USA

Dmitry Golovaty and Lingxing Yao

  • Department of Mathematics, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, USA

Longhua Zhao

  • Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA

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Issue

Vol. 104, Iss. 3 — September 2021

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