622 research outputs found
Time integration and steady-state continuation for 2d lubrication equations
Lubrication equations allow to describe many structurin processes of thin
liquid films. We develop and apply numerical tools suitable for their analysis
employing a dynamical systems approach. In particular, we present a time
integration algorithm based on exponential propagation and an algorithm for
steady-state continuation. In both algorithms a Cayley transform is employed to
overcome numerical problems resulting from scale separation in space and time.
An adaptive time-step allows to study the dynamics close to hetero- or
homoclinic connections. The developed framework is employed on the one hand to
analyse different phases of the dewetting of a liquid film on a horizontal
homogeneous substrate. On the other hand, we consider the depinning of drops
pinned by a wettability defect. Time-stepping and path-following are used in
both cases to analyse steady-state solutions and their bifurcations as well as
dynamic processes on short and long time-scales. Both examples are treated for
two- and three-dimensional physical settings and prove that the developed
algorithms are reliable and efficient for 1d and 2d lubrication equations,
respectively.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figure
Collective chemotaxis and segregation of active bacterial colonies
International audienceStill recently, bacterial fluid suspensions have motivated a lot of works, both experimental and theoretical, with the objective to understand their collective dynamics from universal and simple rules. Since some species are active, most of these works concern the strong interactions that these bacteria exert on a forced flow leading to instabilities, chaos and turbulence. Here, we investigate the self-organization of expanding bacterial colonies under chemotaxis, proliferation and eventually active-reaction. We propose a simple model to understand and quantify the physical properties of these living organisms which either give cohesion or on the contrary dispersion to the colony. Taking into account the diffusion and capture of morphogens complicates the model since it induces a bacterial density gradient coupled to bacterial density fluctuations and dynamics. Nevertheless under some specific conditions, it is possible to investigate the pattern formation as a usual viscous fingering instability. This explains the similarity and differences of patterns according to the physical bacterial suspension properties and explain the factors which favor compactness or branching
Cell motility: a viscous fingering analysis of active gels
The symmetry breaking of the actin network from radial to longitudinal
symmetry has been identified as the major mechanism for keratocytes (fish
cells) motility on solid substrate. For strong friction coefficient, the two
dimensional actin flow which includes the polymerisation at the edge and
depolymerisation in the bulk can be modelled as a Darcy flow, the cell shape
and dynamics being then modelled by standard complex analysis methods. We use
the theory of active gels to describe the orientational order of the filaments
which varies from the border to the bulk. We show analytically that the
reorganisation of the cortex is enough to explain the motility of the cell and
find the velocity as a function of the orientation order parameter in the bulk.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ - Plu
Elastic growth in thin geometries
International audienceGeneration of shapes in biological tissues is a complex multiscale phenomenon. Biochemical details of cell proliferation, death and mobility can be incorporated within a continuum mechanical framework by specifying locally the amplitude and direction of growth. For tissues exhibiting an elastic behavior, equilibrium shapes of growing bodies can be evaluated through the minimization of an appropriate energy. This model is applied to thin shells and plates, a geometry relevant to nuts and pollen grains but also leaves, petals and algae
Extending the scope of microscopic solvability: Combination of the Kruskal-Segur method with Zauderer decomposition
Successful applications of the Kruskal-Segur approach to interfacial pattern
formation have remained limited due to the necessity of an integral formulation
of the problem. This excludes nonlinear bulk equations, rendering convection
intractable. Combining the method with Zauderer's asymptotic decomposition
scheme, we are able to strongly extend its scope of applicability and solve
selection problems based on free boundary formulations in terms of partial
differential equations alone. To demonstrate the technique, we give the first
analytic solution of the problem of velocity selection for dendritic growth in
a forced potential flow.Comment: Submitted to Europhys. Letters, No figures, 5 page
Comment on ``Solidification of a Supercooled Liquid in a Narrow Channel''
Comment on PRL v. 86, p. 5084 (2001) [cond-mat/0101016]. We point out that
the authors' simulations are consistent with the known theory of steady-state
solutions in this system
Rescaling the dynamics of evaporating drops
The dynamics of evaporation of wetting droplets has been investigated
experimentally in an extended range of drop sizes, in order to provide trends
relevant for a theoretical analysis. A model is proposed, which generalises
Tanner's law, allowing us to smooth out the singularities both in dissipation
and in evaporative flux at the moving contact line. A qualitative agreement is
obtained, which represents a first step towards the solution of a very old,
complex problem
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