Hydrodynamic Screening Research Articles

Collective motion in a sheet of microswimmers

Self-propelled particles such as bacteria or algae swimming through a fluid are non-equilibrium systems where particle motility breaks microscopic detailed balance, often resulting in large-scale collective motion. Previous theoretical work has identified long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions as the driver of collective motion in unbounded suspensions of rear-actuated (“pusher”) microswimmers. In contrast, most experimental studies of collective motion in microswimmer suspensions have been carried out in restricted geometries where both the swimmers’ motion and their long-range flow fields become altered due to the proximity of a boundary. Here, we study numerically a minimal model of microswimmers in such a restricted geometry, where the particles move in the midplane between two no-slip walls. For pushers, we demonstrate collective motion with short-ranged order, in contrast with the long-ranged flows observed in unbounded systems. For front-actuated (“puller”) microswimmers, we discover a long-wavelength density instability resulting in the formation of dense microswimmer clusters. Both types of collective motion are fundamentally different from their previously studied counterparts in unbounded domains. Our results show that this difference is dictated by the geometrical restriction of the swimmers’ motion, while hydrodynamic screening due to the presence of a wall is subdominant in determining the suspension’s collective state.

Streaming Current for Surfaces Covered by Square and Hexagonal Monolayers of Spherical Particles.

The interface and particle contributions to the streaming current of flat substrates covered with ordered square or hexagonal monolayers of spherical particles were theoretically evaluated for particle coverage up to close packing. The exact numerical results were approximated using fitting functions that contain exponential and linear terms to account for hydrodynamic screening and charge convection from the particle surfaces exposed to external flow. According to our calculations, the streaming currents for the ordered and random particle arrangements differ within a typical experimental error. Thus, streaming-current measurements, supplemented with our fitting functions, can be conveniently used to evaluate the particle coverage without detailed knowledge of the particle distribution. Our results for equal interface and particle ζ-potentials indicate that roughness can reduce the streaming current by more than 30%, even in the limit of the small size of spherical roughness asperities.

Mudflat surface sediment type mapping by remote sensing considering the effect of the chlorophyll-a content

Mudflats are critical interfaces between the marine and terrestrial environment of muddy coasts. Mapping mudflat surface sediment types and analyzing their dynamic changes are helpful to understand the variations of sedimentary environments and their responses to tidal current movements. To obtain the surface sediment types of the mudflats, this study first took the chlorophyll-a content as an environmental variable and combined it with satellite spectral reflectance data processed by fractional-order derivative (FOD) to establish a machine learning model for retrieving sediment component content (SCC) of the sand, silt, and clay. Then, the three SCCs were linear equilibrium corrected and inputted into Folk's ternary classification model, and the spatial distribution map of the sediment types was accurately obtained. The results showed that the use of the FODs for satellite image enhancement could provide richer spectral information and improve the accuracy of the chlorophyll-a content and SCCs inversed by the grid search-support vector machine (GS-SVM) model. When compared to direct spectral modeling, considering the effect of the chlorophyll-a content as the key input factor, the coefficients of determination (R2) for the sand, silt, and clay contents inversion were increased by 15.1, 9.2, and 38.2%, and the root mean square error (RMSE) were reduced by 9.7, 5.5, and 2.5%, respectively. Surface sediment type maps obtained from the three SCCs showed that the main sediments in the mudflats on the central coast of Jiangsu Province, China were silty sand and sandy silt. Between 2019 and 2021, the sediment types in 84.46% of the total area were unchanged. For the changing area, the sediment transitioned toward finer-grained types near the seawall of the coastal region. Whereas in the offshore area, especially along the edge of the huge tidal channels, the sediments tended to be coarser because of strong hydrodynamic screening. The findings will be helpful for improving the ability of mudflat sedimentation environmental monitoring and spatial resource management via remote sensing.

Boundaries control active channel flows

Boundary conditions dictate how fluids, including liquid crystals, flow when pumped through a channel. Can boundary conditions also be used to control internally driven active fluids that generate flows spontaneously? By using numerical simulations and stability analysis we explore how parallel surface anchoring of active agents at the boundaries and substrate drag can be used to rectify coherent flow of an active polar fluid in a 2D channel. Upon increasing activity, a succession of dynamical states is obtained, from laminar flow to vortex arrays to eventual turbulence, that are controlled by the interplay between the hydrodynamic screening length and the extrapolation length quantifying the anchoring strength of the orientational order parameter. We highlight the key role of symmetry in both flow and order and show that coherent laminar flow with net throughput is only possible for weak anchoring and intermediate activity. Our work demonstrates the possibility of controlling the nature and properties of active flows in a channel simply by patterning the confining boundaries.

Wrinkling and multiplicity in the dynamics of deformable sheets in uniaxial extensional flow

The processing of thin-structured materials in a fluidic environment, from nearly inextensible but flexible graphene sheets to highly extensible polymer films, arises in many applications. So far, little is known about the dynamics of such thin sheets freely suspended in fluid. In this work, we study the dynamics of freely suspended soft sheets in uniaxial extensional flow. Elastic sheets are modeled with a continuum model that accounts for in-plane deformation and out-of-plane bending, and the fluid motion is computed using the method of regularized Stokeslets. We explore two types of sheets: "stiff" sheets that strongly resist bending deformations and always stay flat, and "flexible" sheets with both in-plane and out-of plane deformability that can wrinkle. For stiff sheets, we observe a coil-stretch-like transition, similar to what has been observed for long-chain linear polymers under extension as well as elastic sheets under planar extension: in a certain range of capillary number (flow strength relative to in-plane deformability), the sheets exhibit either a compact or a highly stretched conformation, depending on deformation history. For flexible sheets, sheets with sufficiently small bending stiffness wrinkle to form various conformations. Here, the compact-stretched bistability still occurs, but is strongly modified by the wrinkling instability: a highly-stretched planar state can become unstable and wrinkle, after which it may dramatically shrink in length due to hydrodynamic screening associated with wrinkling. Therefore, wrinkling renders a shift in the bistability regime. In addition, we can predict and understand the nonlinear long-term dynamics for some parameter regimes with linear stability analysis of the flat steady states.

Cilia density and flow velocity affect alignment of motile cilia from brain cells.

ABSTRACTIn many organs, thousands of microscopic ‘motile cilia’ beat in a coordinated fashion generating fluid flow. Physiologically, these flows are important in both development and homeostasis of ciliated tissues. Combining experiments and simulations, we studied how cilia from brain tissue align their beating direction. We subjected cilia to a broad range of shear stresses, similar to the fluid flow that cilia themselves generate, in a microfluidic setup. In contrast to previous studies, we found that cilia from mouse ependyma respond and align to these physiological shear stress at all maturation stages. Cilia align more easily earlier in maturation, and we correlated this property with the increase in multiciliated cell density during maturation. Our numerical simulations show that cilia in densely packed clusters are hydrodynamically screened from the external flow, in agreement with our experimental observation. Cilia carpets create a hydrodynamic screening that reduces the susceptibility of individual cilia to external flows.

Key influence of clusters of Geldart Group B particles in a circulating fluidized bed riser

The clustering phenomenon is an important characteristic of fluidized bed systems, so much attention has been given to understanding such unstable, transient features through both experiments and simulations. A review has pointed out that, because of the interplay of multiple factors, relationships are at times unclear even within the same study. For such non-linear and multi-dimensional problems, machine learning tools are proficient. In this study, self-organizing map (SOM) analysis was harnessed to classify 1188 circulating fluidized bed (CFB) riser cluster datasets of Geldart Group B particles into potential smaller data assemblies, in order to determine the key influence(s) responsible for the demarcation. Two distinct data assemblies were identified, with one constituted by the monodisperse particle systems (i.e., three narrow particle size distributions (PSDs)), while the other by the non-monodisperse particle systems (i.e., two binary mixtures and one broad PSD). Specifically, the clusters formed by the non-monodisperse systems were distinctively smaller than those of monodisperse ones. This suggests that multiple particle types hindered the growth of clusters, which has been tied to hydrodynamic screening, unequal charging and unequal damping effects that are unique to particle mixtures. More studies are needed to unveil the underlying mechanisms of such different clusters between the monodisperse versus non-monodisperse particle systems.

Flow States and Transitions of an Active Nematic in a Three-Dimensional Channel.

We use active nematohydrodynamics to study the flow of an active fluid in a 3D microchannel, finding a transition between active turbulence and regimes where there is a net flow along the channel. We show that the net flow is only possible if the active nematic is flow aligning and that, in agreement with experiments, the appearance of the net flow depends on the aspect ratio of the channel cross section. We explain our results in terms of when the hydrodynamic screening due to the channel walls allows the emergence of vortex rolls across the channel.

Encounter rates between bacteria and small sinking particles

The ecological interaction between bacteria and sinking particles, such as bacterial degradation of marine snow particles, is regulated by their encounters. Current encounter models focus on the diffusive regime, valid for particles larger than the bacterial run length, yet the majority of marine snow particles are small, and the encounter process is then ballistic. Here, we analytically and numerically quantify the encounter rate between sinking particles and non-motile or motile micro-organisms in the ballistic regime, explicitly accounting for the hydrodynamic shear created by the particle and its coupling with micro-organism shape. We complement results with selected experiments on non-motile diatoms. The shape-shear coupling has a considerable effect on the encounter rate and encounter location through the mechanisms of hydrodynamic focusing and screening, whereby elongated micro-organisms preferentially orient normally to the particle surface downstream of the particle (focusing) and tangentially to the surface upstream of the particle (screening). Non-motile elongated micro-organisms are screened from sinking particles because shear aligns them tangentially to the particle surface, which reduces the encounter rate by a factor proportional to the square of the micro-organism aspect ratio. For motile elongated micro-organisms, hydrodynamic focusing increases the encounter rate when particle sinking speed is similar to micro-organism swimming speed, whereas for very quickly sinking particles hydrodynamic screening can reduce the encounter rate below that of non-motile micro-organisms. For natural ocean conditions, we connect the ballistic and diffusive limits and compute the encounter rate as a function of shape, motility and particle characteristics. Our results indicate that shear should be taken into account to predict the interactions between bacteria and sinking particles responsible for the large carbon flux in the ocean’s biological pump.

Entrainment of mammalian motile cilia in the brain with hydrodynamic forces

Motile cilia are widespread across the animal and plant kingdoms, displaying complex collective dynamics central to their physiology. Their coordination mechanism is not generally understood, with previous work mainly focusing on algae and protists. We study here the entrainment of cilia beat in multiciliated cells from brain ventricles. The response to controlled oscillatory external flows shows that flows at a similar frequency to the actively beating cilia can entrain cilia oscillations. We find that the hydrodynamic forces required for this entrainment strongly depend on the number of cilia per cell. Cells with few cilia (up to five) can be entrained at flows comparable to cilia-driven flows, in contrast with what was recently observed in Chlamydomonas Experimental trends are quantitatively described by a model that accounts for hydrodynamic screening of packed cilia and the chemomechanical energy efficiency of the flagellar beat. Simulations of a minimal model of cilia interacting hydrodynamically show the same trends observed in cilia.

Nanoparticle Diffusion within Dilute and Semidilute Xanthan Solutions.

We measured the translation diffusion coefficient ( D) of nanoparticles within dilute and semidilute solutions of a semiflexible polymer, xanthan. Our results showed that for particle diameters ( d) of 5 and 10 nm, the obstruction theory can explain the concentration ( c) dependence of D in the dilute regime. Diffusion in semidilute solutions is better explained by additionally considering the modified Darcy flow with the hydrodynamic screening length varying according to κ ≈ c-0.76. The depletion effect is operative for larger particles ( d = 30 nm) within semidilute solutions. We used a scaling relation for the depletion layer thickness δ ≈ ξν, where ξ is the static correlation length and the exponent ν ≈ 0.42 that can explain our data. This is in contrast with a flat surface, where the exponent is expected to be 1. Our results showed that in the situation, when the polymer network relaxation is much slower compared to the diffusive time-scale of particles, no single theory is capable to describe the concentration and size dependence of particle mobility.

High-Throughput Synthesis and Characterization of PGM-Free PEFC Cathode Catalysts

The high cost of platinum, widely used in the electrode of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), is one of main barriers to the widespread use of fuel cell vehicles. Many studies have focused on reducing the excessive production cost of the fuel cell stack by either decreasing the platinum loading using more active Pt-based catalysts and nanostructured alloys or developing platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) catalysts based on low-cost transition metals (e.g., iron and cobalt), carbon, and nitrogen. This presentation will describe high-throughput techniques for synthesis, physical and chemical characterization, hydrodynamic activity screening, electrode fabrication, and fuel cell performance testing of PGM-free catalysts under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Offices’ Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat) [1]. Argonne’s robotic systems have been utilized to rapidly synthesize unique iron and transition metal-nitrogen-carbon (TM-N-C) catalysts exploring a large number of variables such as nitrogen content, ZIF-8 content, Fe content, TM dopant, and Fe precursor. These variables have been shown to be important factors in determining the activity and stability of the resulting catalysts. The catalysts were synthesized using multi-port ball-milling and multi-sample heat treatment. The ORR activity of synthesized materials was characterized using a newly-developed multichannel flow double electrode cell (m-CFDE), allowing the aqueous hydrodynamic measurement of multiple samples simultaneously and using removable electrode plugs to facilitate the quick change of catalyst [2]. A custom-designed system was utilized to deposit the catalyst-ionomer inks onto the glassy carbon electrodes of the m-CFDE electrode plugs. This system is equipped with a nano-liter injector with exchangeable micro-tips and a computer-controlled XY table mount for the electrode plug to uniformly distribute the ink across the 3 mm x 1 mm glassy carbon electrodes. The ORR activity is correlated with catalyst Fe speciation, as determined using Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAFS) and also with catalyst BET and electrochemically-determined surface areas. A segmented 25-electrode array cell was used for the high-throughput performance testing of 25 different types of catalyst in a single membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). The automated electrode deposition system has been used in combination with a custom-designed heated vacuum table and a multi-channel peristatic pump to deposit 25 circular electrodes onto the membrane in the pattern required by the NuVant Systems Inc. array fuel cell hardware [3]. This automated ink dispensing system can be used for precise and even catalyst ink deposition across the small circular array electrodes while minimizing the amount of material required to form those uniform electrodes. This presentation will correlate the performance of the catalysts in the MEA with the catalysts’ ORR activity, physical and chemical properties, and synthesis parameters. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office under the auspices of the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat). This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. Argonne National Laboratory is managed for the U.S Department of Energy by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC, under contract DE-AC-02-06CH11357.

Active Fingering Instability in Tissue Spreading.

During the spreading of epithelial tissues, the advancing tissue front often develops fingerlike protrusions. Their resemblance to traditional viscous fingering patterns in driven fluids suggests that epithelial fingers could arise from an interfacial instability. However, the existence and physical mechanism of such a putative instability remain unclear. Here, based on an active polar fluid model for epithelial spreading, we analytically predict a generic instability of the tissue front. On the one hand, active cellular traction forces impose a velocity gradient that leads to an accelerated front, which is, thus, unstable to long-wavelength perturbations. On the other hand, contractile intercellular stresses typically dominate over surface tension in stabilizing short-wavelength perturbations. Finally, the finite range of hydrodynamic interactions in the tissue selects a wavelength for the fingering pattern, which is, thus, given by the smallest between the tissue size and the hydrodynamic screening length. Overall, we show that spreading epithelia experience an active fingering instability based on a simple kinematic mechanism. Moreover, our results underscore the crucial role of long-range hydrodynamic interactions in the dynamics of tissue morphology.

Three-disk microswimmer in a supported fluid membrane.

A model of three-disk micromachine swimming in a quasi-two-dimensional supported membrane is proposed. We calculate the average swimming velocity as a function of the disk size and the arm length. Due to the presence of the hydrodynamic screening length in the quasi-two-dimensional fluid, the geometric factor appearing in the average velocity exhibits three different asymptotic behaviors depending on the microswimmer size and the hydrodynamic screening length. This is in sharp contrast with a microswimmer in a three-dimensional bulk fluid that shows only a single scaling behavior. We also find that the maximum velocity is obtained when the disks are equal-sized, whereas it is minimized when the average arm lengths are identical. The intrinsic drag of the disks on the substrate does not alter the scaling behaviors of the geometric factor.

Impact of Bioactive Peptide Motifs on Molecular Structure, Charging, and Nonfouling Properties of Poly(ethylene oxide) Brushes

Polymer layers capable of suppressing protein adsorption from biological media while presenting extracellular matrix-derived peptide motifs offer valuable new options for biomimetic surface engineering. Herein, we provide detailed insights into physicochemical changes induced in a nonfouling poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) brush/polydopamine (PDA) system by incorporation of adhesion ligand (RGD) peptides. Brushes with high surface chain densities (σ ≥ 0.5 chains·nm-2) and pronounced hydrophilicity (water contact angles ≤ 10°) were prepared by end-tethering of heterobifunctional PEOs ( Mn ≈ 20 000 g·mol-1) to PDA-modified surfaces from a reactive melt. Using alkyne distal end group on the PEO chains, azidopentanoic-bearing peptides were coupled through a copper-catalyzed Huisgen azide-alkyne "click" cycloaddition reaction. The surface concentration of RGD was tuned from complete saturation of the PEO surface with peptides (1.7 × 105 fmol·cm-2) to values which may induce distinct differences in cell adhesion (<6.0 × 102 fmol·cm-2). Infrared reflection-absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies proved the PDA-PEO layers covalent structure and the immobilization of RGD peptides. The complete reconstruction of experimental electrohydrodynamics data utilizing mean-field theory predictions further verified the attained brush structure of the end-tethered PEO chains which provided hydrodynamic screening of the PDA anchor. Increasing the surface concentration of immobilized RGD peptides led to increased interfacial charging. Supported by simulations, this observation was attributed to the ionization of functional groups in the amino acid sequence and to the pH-dependent adsorption of water ions (OH- > H3O+) from the electrolyte. Despite the distinct differences observed in the electrokinetic analysis of the surfaces bearing different amounts of RGD, it was found that the peptide presence on PEO(20 000)-PDA layers does not have a significant effect on the nonfouling properties of the system. Notably, the presented PEO(20 000)-PDA layers bearing RGD peptides in the surface concentration range 5.9 to 1.7 × 105 fmol·cm-2 reduced the protein adsorption from fetal bovine serum to less than 30 ng·cm-2, that is, values comparable to the ones obtained for pristine PEO(20 000)-PDA layers.

Lateral diffusion induced by active proteins in a biomembrane.

We discuss the hydrodynamic collective effects due to active protein molecules that are immersed in lipid bilayer membranes and modeled as stochastic force dipoles. We specifically take into account the presence of the bulk solvent that surrounds the two-dimensional fluid membrane. Two membrane geometries are considered: the free membrane case and the confined membrane case. Using the generalized membrane mobility tensors, we estimate the active diffusion coefficient and the drift velocity as a function of the size of a diffusing object. The hydrodynamic screening lengths distinguish the two asymptotic regimes of these quantities. Furthermore, the competition between the thermal and nonthermal contributions in the total diffusion coefficient is characterized by two length scales corresponding to the two membrane geometries. These characteristic lengths describe the crossover between different asymptotic behaviors when they are larger than the hydrodynamic screening lengths.

Effect of hydrophobic core on the electrophoresis of a diffuse soft particle

Electrophoresis of a diffuse soft particle with a charged hydrophobic core is considered under the weak field and low charge density assumptions. The hydrophobic surface of the core is coated with a diffuse polyelectrolyte layer (PEL) in which a gradual transition of the polymer segment distribution from the impenetrable core to the surrounding electrolyte medium is considered. A mathematical model is adopted to analyse the impact of the core hydrophobicity on the diffuse soft particle electrophoresis. The mobility based on the present model for the limiting cases such as bare colloids with hydrophobic core and soft particles with no-slip rigid cores are in good agreement with the existing results. The presence of PEL charges produces the impact of the core hydrophobicity on the soft particle mobility different from the corresponding bare colloid with hydrophobic surface in an electrolyte medium. The impact of the core hydrophobicity is subtle when the hydrodynamic screening length of the PEL is low. Reversal in mobility can be achieved by tuning the core hydrophobicity for an oppositely charged core and PEL.

Effect of stretching-induced changes in hydrodynamic screening on coil-stretch hysteresis of unentangled polymer solutions

Extensional rheometry and Brownian Dynamics simulations of flexible polymer solutions confirm predictions based on blob concepts that coil--stretch hysteresis in extensional flows increases with concentration, reaching a maximum at the critical overlap concentration $c^\ast$ before progressively vanishing in the semidilute regime. These observations demonstrate that chain stretching strengthens intermolecular hydrodynamic screening in dilute solutions, but weakens it in semidilute solutions. Flow can thus strongly modify the concentration dependence of viscoelastic properties of polymer solutions.

Influence of stretching induced self-concentration and self-dilution on coil-stretch hysteresis and capillary thinning of unentangled polymer solutions

Entov and Hinch [J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 72, 31–53 (1997)] predicted a Weissenberg number of 2/3 during capillary thinning of slender filaments of polymer solutions. Data from the experiments of Clasen et al. [J. Rheol. 50, 849–881 (2006)] however show that that is not the case. The Weissenberg number is observed to systematically decrease with concentration in nominally dilute solutions to values well below the critical value of 1/2 for the coil-to-stretch transition to reach a minimum around the critical-overlap concentration c∗, and thereafter increase in semidilute solutions. Conformation dependence of the polymeric friction coefficient and the phenomenon of coil-stretch hysteresis are shown to play vital roles in determining capillary thinning dynamics. A key result is that when steady-state coil-stretch hysteresis exists, transient polymer conformations during capillary thinning evolve quasistatically along the unstable manifold of the hysteresis window. It is further found necessary to account for changes in polymeric friction due to intermolecular interactions as chains stretch in the flow. A new constitutive model for unentangled polymer solutions is proposed combining blob concepts to account for the effect of hydrodynamic screening on the average friction coefficient of partially stretched chains. It is shown that stretching causes intermolecular interactions to become stronger in the dilute regime and weaker in semidilute solutions. Predictions with this constitutive model agree well with the experimental data in capillary thinning.

Hydrodynamic interactions enhance gelation in dispersions of colloids with short-ranged attraction and long-ranged repulsion.

We show that discrete element simulations of colloidal gelation must account for hydrodynamic interactions between suspended particles through investigation of gelation in a dispersion of colloids interacting pair-wise via short-ranged attraction and long-ranged repulsion (SALR). These dynamic simulations juxtapose self-assembly with and without hydrodynamic interactions between the particles. The long-ranged repulsion impacts the relative rates of coagulation and compaction of colloidal aggregates pre-gel, and introduces a surprising sensitivity to the nature of hydrodynamic interactions between the suspended colloids. For such SALR dispersions, we observe a significant disparity between the percolation boundaries predicted by simulations including and neglecting long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions. Additionally, we find that the percolation boundaries predicted by simulations including hydrodynamic interactions agree well with those measured experimentally. Long-ranged repulsion promotes gelation via growth of anisotropic clusters regardless of the hydrodynamic model employed. However, differences between the models, which persist far from the percolation boundary, are apparent via measurements of the fractal dimension, local bond order parameters, and the collective relaxation dynamics. Notably, the growth of elongated clusters is augmented in simulations that incorporate long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions due to the anisotropic diffusion of elongated bodies at low Reynolds numbers, which favors percolation over a transition of anisotropic clusters to their more isotropic ground states. It is only in relatively dense suspensions that a combination of hydrodynamic screening and significantly faster aggregation combine to bring the two simulation methods into agreement. These results demonstrate the necessity of long-ranged hydrodynamic forces in discrete element simulations of heterogeneous gelation at the colloidal scale.