Through L\'evy Walks to Brownian Walks in the Transport of Filaments in Cellular Flows
Year: 2020
Type: preprint
Abstract: In a spatially periodic and time-independent cellular background flow, flexible filaments can move across closed streamlines and show complex paths and deformations. Here, we study the dynamics of such filaments when their length is long enough to broadly sample the background velocity field. Using simulation, we show that their long-time dynamics evinces various transport states such as L\'evy walks, Brownian walks, ballistic transport, and trapping, depending upon the filament's relative length and effective flexibility. In particular, we demonstrate a transition through L\'evy walks to Brownian walks with increasing length. Even completely rigid filaments, whose dynamics is finite-dimensional, show a variety of transport states. We find evidence of these various transport states in experiments using arrays of counter-rotating rollers, immersed in a fluid and transporting a flexible ribbon.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Shiyuan Hu, Jun-Jun Chu, Michael Shelley, Jun Zhang
Language: English
Subfield: Computational Mechanics
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3112052369