On the role of initial velocities in pair dispersion in a microfluidic chaotic flow.

ABSTRACT: Chaotic flows drive mixing and efficient transport in fluids, as well as the associated beautiful complex patterns familiar to us from our every day life experience. Generating such flows at small scales where viscosity takes over is highly challenging from both the theoretical and engineering perspectives. This can be overcome by introducing a minuscule amount of long flexible polymers, resulting in a chaotic flow dubbed 'elastic turbulence'. At the basis of the theoretical frameworks for its study lie the assumptions of a spatially smooth and random-in-time velocity field. Previous measurements of elastic turbulence have been limited to two-dimensions. Using a novel three-dimensional particle tracking method, we conduct a microfluidic experiment, allowing us to explore elastic turbulence

SUBMITTER: Afik E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5589773 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature