Analytical solutions and classification of vesicle motion and deformation in shear flow: Uncovering new tank-treading modes.

Using a small deformation approach, a fractional ordinary differential system is proposed to investigate the motion and deformation of a vesicle in shear flow. Closed analytical expressions of the orientation angle and the ellipticity of the vesicle contour (shape deformation) are provided. Three different motions are identified, the classical tank-treading state, and two new types of motions, namely, the over-damped tank-treading mode, in which the vesicle's orientation angle ψ and its shape deformation R tend more slowly toward equilibrium, and the under-damped tank-treading mode, in which ψ oscillates all the time along the flow direction with decreasing amplitude, while R starts making a breathing motion and then tends to an attractive amplitude. The implications of our findings extend widely within the field of fluid dynamics, revealing the potential for further advancements and applications in understanding complex fluid systems.

Analytical results for the wrinkling of graphene on nanoparticles.

A continuum elastic model, describing the wrinkling instability of graphene on substrate-supported silica nanoparticles [M. Yamamoto et al., Phys. Rev. X 2, 041018 (2012)2160-330810.1103/PhysRevX.2.041018], is analytically studied, and an exact analytical expression of the critical nanoparticle separation or the maximum wrinkle length is derived. Our findings agree with the scaling property of Yamamoto et al. but improve their results. Moreover, from the elastic model we find a pseudomagnetic field as a function of the wrinkling deflection, leading to the conclusion that the middle of the wrinkled graphene may have a zero pseudomagnetic field, in marked contrast with previous results.

Rheological properties of a vesicle suspension.

The rheological behavior of a dilute suspension of vesicles in linear shear flow at a finite concentration is analytically examined. In the quasispherical limit, two coupled nonlinear equations that describe the vesicle orientation in the flow and its shape evolution were derived [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 028104 (2006)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.96.028104] and serve here as a starting point. Of special interest is to provide, for the first time, an exact analytical prediction of the time-dependent effective viscosity η_{eff} and normal stress differences N_{1} and N_{2}. Our results shed light on the effect of the viscosity ratio λ (defined as the inner over the outer fluid viscosities) as the main controlling parameter. It is shown that η_{eff},N_{1}, and N_{2} either tend to a steady state or describe a periodic time-dependent rheological response, previously reported numerically and experimentally. In particular, the shear viscosity minimum and the cusp singularities of η_{eff},N_{1}, and N_{2} at the tumbling threshold are brought to light. We also report on rheology properties for an arbitrary linear flow. We were able to obtain a constitutive law in a closed form relating the stress tensor to the strain rate tensor. It is found that the resulting constitutive markedly contrasts with classical laws known for other complex fluids, such as emulsions, capsule suspensions, and dilute polymer solutions (Oldroyd B model). We highlight the main differences between our law and classical laws.

Membrane compression in tumbling and vacillating-breathing regimes for quasispherical vesicles.

We derive some analytical results of a well-known model for quasispherical vesicles in a linear shear flow at low deformability. Attention is focussed on the oscillatory regimes: the tumbling (TB) mode, vacillating-breathing (VB) mode, and the transition from vacillating-breathing to tumbling, depending on a control parameter Γ. It is shown that, during the VB-to-TB transition (Γ=1), the vesicle momentarily attains its maximal extension in the vorticity direction and transits through a circular profile in the shear plane for which the radius is exactly determined. In addition, we provide an explicit analytical expression for the effective membrane tension for different types of motions. We find a critical bending number below which the membrane undergoes compression at each instant and show that, during the VB-to-TB transition, a fourth-order membrane deformation is possible.

Dynamic modes of quasispherical vesicles: exact analytical solutions.

In this paper we introduce a simple mathematical analysis to reexamine vesicle dynamics in the quasispherical limit (small deformation) under a shear flow. In this context, a recent paper [Misbah, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 028104 (2006)] revealed a dynamic referred to as the vacillating-breathing (VB) mode where the vesicle main axis oscillates about the flow direction and the shape undergoes a breathinglike motion, as well as the tank-treading and tumbling (TB) regimes. Our goal here is to identify these three modes by obtaining explicit analytical expressions of the vesicle inclination angle and the shape deformation. In particular, the VB regime is put in evidence and the transition dynamics is discussed. Not surprisingly, our finding confirms the Keller-Skalak solutions (for rigid particles) and shows that the VB and TB modes coexist, and whether one prevails over the other depends on the initial conditions. An interesting additional element in the discussion is the prediction of the TB and VB modes as functions of a control parameter Γ, which can be identified as a TB-VB parameter.