Isotropically active particle closely fitting in a cylindrical channel: spontaneous motion at small Péclet numbers

DOI10.1017/JFM.2023.1082arXiv2304.12497OpenAlexW4391262007MaRDI QIDQ6192022FDOQ6192022

Authors: Rodolfo Brandão 

Publication date: 12 February 2024

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Spontaneous motion due to symmetry breaking has been theoretically predicted for both active droplets and isotropically active particles in an unbounded fluid domain, provided their intrinsic P'eclet number $Pe$ exceeds a critical value. However, due to their inherently small $Pe$, this phenomenon has yet to be experimentally observed for active particles. In this paper, we theoretically demonstrate that spontaneous motion for an active spherical particle closely fitting in a cylindrical channel is possible at arbitrarily small $Pe$. Scaling arguments in the limit where the dimensionless clearance $epsilonll1$ reveal that when $Pe=O(epsilo{n}^{1/2})$, the confined particle reaches speeds comparable to those achieved in an unbounded fluid at moderate (supercritical) $Pe$ values. We use matched asymptotic expansions in that distinguished limit, where the fluid domain decomposes into several asymptotic regions: a gap region, where the lubrication approximation applies; particle-scale regions, where the concentration is uniform; and far-field regions, where solute transport is one-dimensional. We derive an asymptotic formula for the particle speed, which is a monotonically decreasing function of $overlinePe=Pe/epsilo{n}^{1/2}$ and approaches a finite limit as $overlinePesearrow0$. Our results could pave the way for experimental realisations of symmetry-breaking spontaneous motion in active particles.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.12497

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zbMATH Keywords

active mattercoupled diffusion and flow

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Fluid mechanics (76-XX)

Cites Work

• Title not available (Why is that?)
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• Isotropically active colloids under uniform force fields: from forced to spontaneous motion
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Cited In (3)

• A generalized approach to solving the mixed boundary value problem governing self-diffusiophoresis
• Asymptotic analysis and simulation of mean first passage time for active Brownian particles in 1-D
• Spontaneous autophoretic motion of isotropic disks

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