Flow & Soft systems

Viscous Streaming

Manipulating flow for microscale applications such as drug manufacture, transport, reagent mixing & separation benefit from inertial processes that are not easily accessible at these scales. Viscous streaming is perhaps the most efficient way to use inertia for such microscale applications, and arises when an immersed body undergoes small-amplitude oscillations in a viscous fluid. Almost nothing is known about it, beyond simple shapes such as cylinders or spheres. We investigated viscous streaming beyond classical settings for the rational manipulation of flow topology, through regulated variation of object geometry. We showcased its use in transport devices (such as a micro-robot delivering drugs to a target cell) and in microfluidic trapping/clearing devices.

streaming_cover 3D_streaming

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Soft systems immersed in flows

Soft, elastic and compliant structures immersed in flows are ubiquitous in engineering and biology, and especially in soft robotics, bio-medical and microfluidic devices. To dissect the mechanisms underlying such systems, we have analyzed archetypes of soft structure–flow interaction, using theoretical and numerical methods. The insights gained potentially pave way for novel means of flow manipulation in applications such as drug-delivery via compliant robotic devices.

solid_resonance ball_vortex flagella

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  • An online sandbox I made to investigate the dynamics of an archetypal immersed soft structure.

Filamentous soft creatures

From bridges and DNA to shoelaces, the ubiquity of elastic rods or filaments plays an important role in everyday life. We developed a numerical model for the simulation of soft filaments deforming in three-dimensional space, and accounting for all possible deformation modes, bending, twisting, shearing and stretching at every cross-section. These assemblies of soft tods are able to interact with the environment via models of muscular activity, sensory feedbacks, self-contact, surface friction and hydrodynamics, thus providing a physically accurate virtual playground to inquire into the functioning of complex muscular and robotics architectures.

wings

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  • An online sandbox I made to investigate limbless locomotion by soft snakes.