2022/12/22 by Jason P. Beech, Beech, Jason P., Oskar E. Ström +3
Engineering · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics (physics.flu-dyn) #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Studies #Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.11802
openalex publication_date 2022/12/22 · openalex created_date 2023/01/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Unlike Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic fluids may break time-reversal symmetry at low Reynolds numbers resulting in elastic turbulence. Furthermore, under some conditions, instead of the chaotic turbulence, large-scale regular waves form, as has been shown for DNA flowing in microfluidic pillar arrays. We here demonstrate how the symmetry of the individual pillars influences the symmetry of these waves, thereby contributing to the understanding of the origin of the waves and opening up for better control of the waves with relevance to applications such as microfluidic sorting and mixing. The onset of waves occurs at different Deborah numbers for flow in different directions through the same array. Because the onset of waves leads to an increase in flow rate for a given driving pressure, we observe an increase in diodicity within this range.