Spontaneous motion of a passive fluid droplet in an active microchannel.

ABSTRACT: We numerically study the dynamics of a passive fluid droplet confined within a microchannel whose walls are covered with a thin layer of active gel. The latter represents a fluid of extensile material modelling, for example, a suspension of cytoskeletal filaments and molecular motors. Our results show that the layer is capable of producing a spontaneous flow triggering a rectilinear motion of the passive droplet. For a hybrid design (a single wall covered by the active layer), at the steady state the droplet attains an elliptical shape, resulting from an asymmetric saw-toothed structure of the velocity field. In contrast, if the active gel covers both walls, the velocity field exhibits a fully symmetric pattern considerably mitigating morphological deformations. We further show that the st

SUBMITTER: Tiribocchi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10467333 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature