2,982 research outputs found
Methods for suspensions of passive and active filaments
Flexible filaments and fibres are essential components of important complex
fluids that appear in many biological and industrial settings. Direct
simulations of these systems that capture the motion and deformation of many
immersed filaments in suspension remain a formidable computational challenge
due to the complex, coupled fluid--structure interactions of all filaments, the
numerical stiffness associated with filament bending, and the various
constraints that must be maintained as the filaments deform. In this paper, we
address these challenges by describing filament kinematics using quaternions to
resolve both bending and twisting, applying implicit time-integration to
alleviate numerical stiffness, and using quasi-Newton methods to obtain
solutions to the resulting system of nonlinear equations. In particular, we
employ geometric time integration to ensure that the quaternions remain unit as
the filaments move. We also show that our framework can be used with a variety
of models and methods, including matrix-free fast methods, that resolve low
Reynolds number hydrodynamic interactions. We provide a series of tests and
example simulations to demonstrate the performance and possible applications of
our method. Finally, we provide a link to a MATLAB/Octave implementation of our
framework that can be used to learn more about our approach and as a tool for
filament simulation
Synchronized flutter of two slender flags
The interactions and synchronization of two parallel and slender flags in a
uniform axial flow are studied in the present paper by generalizing Lighthill's
Elongated Body Theory (EBT) and Lighthill's Large Amplitude Elongated Body
Theory (LAEBT) to account for the hydrodynamic coupling between flags. The
proposed method consists in two successive steps, namely the reconstruction of
the flow created by a flapping flag within the LAEBT framework and the
computation of the fluid force generated by this nonuniform flow on the second
flag. In the limit of slender flags in close proximity, we show that the effect
of the wakes have little influence on the long time coupled-dynamics and can be
neglected in the modeling. This provides a simplified framework extending LAEBT
to the coupled dynamics of two flags. Using this simplified model, both linear
and large amplitude results are reported to explore the selection of the
flapping regime as well as the dynamical properties of two side-by-side slender
flags. Hydrodynamic coupling of the two flags is observed to destabilize the
flags for most parameters, and to induce a long-term synchronization of the
flags, either in-phase or out-of-phase.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, to appear in J. Fluid Mec
Numerical study of flapping filaments in a uniform fluid flow
The coupled dynamics of multiple flexible filaments (also called monodimensional flags) flapping in a uniform fluid flow is studied numerically for the cases of a side-by-side arrangement, and an in-line configuration. The modal behaviour and hydrodynamical properties of the sets of filaments are studied using a Lattice Boltzmann–Immersed Boundary method. The fluid momentum equations are solved on a Cartesian uniform lattice while the beating filaments are tracked through a series of markers, whose dynamics are functions of the forces exerted by the fluid, the filaments flexural rigidity and the tension. The instantaneous wall conditions on the filaments are imposed via a system of singular body forces, consistently discretised on the lattice of the Boltzmann equation. The results exhibit several flapping modes for two and three filaments placed side-by-side and are compared with experimental and theoretical studies. The hydrodynamical drafting, observed so far only experimentally on configurations of in-line flexible bodies, is also revisited numerically in this work, and the associated physical mechanism is identified. In certain geometrical and structural configuration, it is found that the upstream body experiences a reduced drag compared to the downstream body, which is the contrary of what is encountered on rigid bodies (cars, bicycles)
Microtransformers: controlled microscale navigation with flexible robots
Artificial microswimmers are a new technology with promising microfluidics
and biomedical applications, such as directed cargo transport, microscale
assembly, and targeted drug delivery. A fundamental barrier to realising this
potential is the ability to control the trajectories of multiple individuals
within a large group. A promising navigation mechanism for "fuel-based"
microswimmers, for example autophoretic Janus particles, entails modulating the
local environment to guide the swimmer, for instance by etching grooves in
microchannels. However, such techniques are currently limited to bulk guidance.
This paper will argue that by manufacturing microswimmers from phoretic
filaments of flexible shape-memory polymer, elastic transformations can
modulate swimming behaviour, allowing precision navigation of selected
individuals within a group through complex environments
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Fluid Structure Interaction of Multiple Flapping Filaments Using Lattice Boltzmann and Immersed Boundary Methods
The problem of flapping filaments in an uniform incoming flow is tackled using a Lattice Boltzmann—Immersed Boundary method. The fluid momentum equations are solved on a Cartesian uniform lattice while the beating filaments are tracked through a series of markers, whose dynamics are functions of the forces exerted by the fluid, the filament flexural rigidity and the tension. The instantaneous wall conditions on the filament are imposed via a system of singular body forces, consistently discretised on the lattice of the Boltzmann equation. We first consider the case of a single beating filament, and then the case of multiple beating filaments in a side-by-side configuration, focussing on the modal behaviour of the whole dynamical systems
The PELskin project: part II—investigating the physical coupling between flexible filaments in an oscillating flow
The fluid-structure interaction mechanisms of a coating composed of flexible flaps immersed in a periodically oscillating channel flow is here studied by means of numerical simulation, employing the Euler-Bernoulli equations to account for the flexibility of the structures. A set of passively actuated flaps have previously been demonstrated to deliver favourable aerodynamic impact when attached to a bluff body undergoing periodic vortex shedding. As such, the present configuration is identified to provide a useful test-bed to better understand this mechanism, thought to be linked to experimentally observed travelling waves. Having previously validated and elucidated the flow mechanism in Paper 1 of this series, we hereby undertake a more detailed analysis of spectra obtained for different natural frequency of structures and different configurations, in order to better characterize the mechanisms involved in the organized motion of the structures. Herein, this wave-like behaviour, observed at the tips of flexible structures via interaction with the fluid flow, is characterized by examining the time history of the filaments motion and the corresponding effects on the fluid flow, in terms of dynamics and frequency of the fluid velocity. Results indicate that the wave motion behaviour is associated with the formation of vortices in the gaps between the flaps, which itself are a function of the structural resistance to the cross flow. In addition, formation of vortices upstream of the leading and downstream of the trailing flap is seen, which interact with the formation of the shear-layer on top of the row. This leads to a phase shift in the wave-type motion along the row that resembles the observation in the cylinder case
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