Energy dissipation in flows through curved spaces.

ABSTRACT: Fluid dynamics in intrinsically curved geometries is encountered in many physical systems in nature, ranging from microscopic bio-membranes all the way up to general relativity at cosmological scales. Despite the diversity of applications, all of these systems share a common feature: the free motion of particles is affected by inertial forces originating from the curvature of the embedding space. Here we reveal a fundamental process underlying fluid dynamics in curved spaces: the free motion of fluids, in the complete absence of solid walls or obstacles, exhibits loss of energy due exclusively to the intrinsic curvature of space. We find that local sources of curvature generate viscous stresses as a result of the inertial forces. The curvature- induced viscous forces are shown to cause hit

SUBMITTER: Debus JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5307957 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature