Flow states and transitions of an active nematic in a three dimensional channel

Abstract

We use active nematohydrodynamics to study the flow of an active fluid in a 3D microchannel, finding a transition between active turbulence and regimes where there is a net flow along the channel. We show that the net flow is only possible if the active nematic is flow aligning and that - in agreement with experiments - the appearance of the net flow depends on the aspect ratio of the channel cross-section. We explain our results in terms of the when hydrodynamic screening due to the channel walls allows the emergence of vortex rolls across the channel.

References in corpus (3)

• Spontaneous motion in hierarchically assembled active matter
• Meso-scale turbulence in living fluids
• Steady-state hydrodynamic instabilities of active liquid crystals: Hybrid lattice Boltzmann simulations

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Active nematic flows confined in a two dimensional channel with hybrid alignment at the walls: a unified picture