Density Fluctuations in Stochastic Kinematic Flows

At the macroscopic scale, many important models of collective motion fall into the class of kinematic flows for which both velocity and diffusion terms depend only on particle density. When total particle numbers are fixed and finite, simulations of corresponding microscopic dynamics exhibit stochastic effects which can induce a variety of interesting behaviours not present in the large system limit. In this article we undertake a systematic examination of finite-size fluctuations in a general class of particle models whose statistics correspond to those of stochastic kinematic flows. Doing so, we are able to characterise phenomena including: quasi-jams in models of traffic flow; stochastic pattern formation amongst spatially-coupled oscillators; anomalous bulk sub-diffusion in porous media; and travelling wave fluctuations in a model of bacterial swarming

Density Fluctuations in Stochastic Kinematic Flows

At the macroscopic scale, many important models of collective motion fall into the class of kinematic flows for which both velocity and diffusion terms depend only on particle density. When total particle numbers are fixed and finite, simulations of corresponding microscopic dynamics exhibit stochastic effects which can induce a variety of interesting behaviours not present in the large system limit. In this article we undertake a systematic examination of finite-size fluctuations in a general class of particle models whose statistics correspond to those of stochastic kinematic flows. Doing so, we are able to characterise phenomena including: quasi-jams in models of traffic flow; stochastic pattern formation amongst spatially-coupled oscillators; anomalous bulk sub-diffusion in porous media; and travelling wave fluctuations in a model of bacterial swarming.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, fixed typo

Flow structure beneath rotational water waves with stagnation points

The purpose of this work is to explore in detail the structure of the interior flow generated by periodic surface waves on a fluid with constant vorticity. The problem is mapped conformally to a strip and solved numerically using spectral methods. Once the solution is known, the streamlines, pressure and particle paths can be found and mapped back to the physical domain. We find that the flow beneath the waves contains zero, one, two or three stagnation points in a frame moving with the wave speed, and describe the bifurcations between these flows. When the vorticity is sufficiently strong, the pressure in the flow and on the bottom boundary also has very different features from the usual irrotational wave case.</p

Faraday pilot-wave dynamics in a circular corral

A millimetric droplet of silicone oil may bounce and self-propel on the free surface of a vertically vibrating fluid bath due to the droplet's interaction with its accompanying Faraday wave field. This hydrodynamic pilot-wave system exhibits many dynamics that were previously thought to be peculiar to the quantum realm. When the droplet is confined to a circular cavity, referred to as a 'corral', a range of dynamics may occur depending on the details of the geometry and the decay time of the subcritical Faraday waves. We herein present a theoretical investigation into the behaviour of subcritical Faraday waves in this geometry and explore the accompanying pilot-wave dynamics. By computing the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map for the velocity potential in the corral geometry, we can evolve the quasi-potential flow between successive droplet impacts, which, when coupled with a simplified model for the droplet's vertical motion, allows us to derive and implement a highly efficient discrete-time iterative map for the pilot-wave system. We study the onset of the Faraday instability, the emergence and quantisation of circular orbits and simulate the exotic dynamics that arises in smaller corrals

Rotational waves generated by current-topography interaction

We study nonlinear free-surface rotational waves generated through the interaction of a vertically sheared current with a topography. Equivalently, the waves may be generated by a pressure distribution along the free surface. A forced Korteweg–de Vries equation (fKdV) is deduced incorporating these features. The weakly nonlinear, weakly dispersive reduced model is valid for small amplitude topographies. To study the effect of gradually increasing the topography amplitude, the free surface Euler equations are formulated in the presence of a variable depth and a sheared current of constant vorticity. Under constant vorticity, the harmonic velocity component is formulated in a simplified canonical domain, through the use of a conformal mapping which flattens both the free surface as well as the bottom topography. Critical, supercritical, and subcritical Froude number regimes are considered, while the bottom amplitude is gradually increased in both the irrotational and rotational wave regimes. Solutions to the fKdV model are compared to those from the Euler equations. We show that for rotational waves the critical Froude number is shifted away from 1. New stationary solutions are found and their stability tested numerically.</p

Nonlinear shallow-water waves with vertical odd viscosity

The breaking of detailed balance in fluids through Coriolis forces or odd-viscous stresses has profound effects on the dynamics of surface waves. Here we explore both weakly and strongly non-linear waves in a three-dimensional fluid with vertical odd viscosity. Our model describes the free surface of a shallow fluid composed of nearly vertical vortex filaments, which all stand perpendicular to the surface. We find that the odd viscosity in this configuration induces previously unexplored non-linear effects in shallow-water waves, arising from both stresses on the surface and stress gradients in the bulk. By assuming weak nonlinearity, we find reduced equations including Korteweg-de Vries (KdV), Ostrovsky, and Kadomtsev-Petviashvilli (KP) equations with modified coefficients. At sufficiently large odd viscosity, the dispersion changes sign, allowing for compact two-dimensional solitary waves. We show that odd viscosity and surface tension have the same effect on the free surface, but distinct signatures in the fluid flow. Our results describe the collective dynamics of many-vortex systems, which can also occur in oceanic and atmospheric geophysics.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure

Quasi-normal free-surface impacts, capillary rebounds and application to Faraday walkers.

We present a model for capillary-scale objects that bounce on a fluid bath as they also translate horizontally. The rebounding objects are hydrophobic spheres that impact the interface of a bath of incompressible fluid whose motion is described by linearised quasi-potential flow. Under a quasi-normal impact assumption, we demonstrate that the problem can be decomposed into an axisymmetric impact onto a quiescent bath surface, and the unforced evolution of the surface waves. We obtain a walking model that is free of impact parametrisation and we apply this formulation to model droplets walking on a vibrating bath. We show that this model accurately reproduces experimental reports of bouncing modes, impact phases and time-dependent wave field topography for bouncing and walking droplets. Moreover, we revisit the modelling of horizontal drag during droplet impacts to incorporate the effects of the changes in the pressed area during droplet–surface contacts. Finally, we show that this model captures the recently discovered phenomenon of superwalkers