@article{14377, abstract = {Coherent flows of self-propelled particles are characterized by vortices and jets that sustain chaotic flows, referred to as active turbulence. Here, we reveal a crossover between defect-free active turbulence and active turbulence laden with topological defects. Interestingly, we show that concurrent to the crossover from defect-free to defect-laden active turbulence is the restoration of the previously broken SO(2) symmetry signaled by the fast decay of the two-point correlations. By stability analyses of the topological charge density field, we provide theoretical insights on the criterion for the crossover to the defect-laden active turbulent state. Despite the distinct symmetry features between these two active turbulence regimes, the flow fluctuations exhibit universal statistical scaling behaviors at large scales, while the spectrum of polarity fluctuations decays exponentially at small length scales compared to the active energy injection length. These findings reveal a dynamical crossover between distinct spatiotemporal organization patterns in polar active matter.}, author = {Andersen, Benjamin H. and Renaud, Julian B and Rønning, Jonas and Angheluta, Luiza and Doostmohammadi, Amin}, issn = {2469-990X}, journal = {Physical Review Fluids}, keywords = {Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Modeling and Simulation, Computational Mechanics}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Symmetry-restoring crossover from defect-free to defect-laden turbulence in polar active matter}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevfluids.8.063101}, volume = {8}, year = {2023}, } @article{12279, abstract = {We report frictional drag reduction and a complete flow relaminarization of elastic turbulence (ET) at vanishing inertia in a viscoelastic channel flow past an obstacle. We show that the intensity of the observed elastic waves and wall-normal vorticity correlate well with the measured drag above the onset of ET. Moreover, we find that the elastic wave frequency grows with the Weissenberg number, and at sufficiently high frequency it causes a decay of the elastic waves, resulting in ET attenuation and drag reduction. Thus, this allows us to substantiate a physical mechanism, involving the interaction of elastic waves with wall-normal vorticity fluctuations, leading to the drag reduction and relaminarization phenomena at low Reynolds number.}, author = {Kumar, M. Vijay and Varshney, Atul and Li, Dongyang and Steinberg, Victor}, issn = {2469-990X}, journal = {Physical Review Fluids}, keywords = {Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes, Modeling and Simulation, Computational Mechanics}, number = {8}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Relaminarization of elastic turbulence}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevfluids.7.l081301}, volume = {7}, year = {2022}, } @article{9162, abstract = {Active navigation relies on effectively extracting information from the surrounding environment, and often features the tracking of gradients of a relevant signal—such as the concentration of molecules. Microfluidic networks of closed pathways pose the challenge of determining the shortest exit pathway, which involves the proper local decision-making at each bifurcating junction. Here, we focus on the basic decision faced at a T-junction by a microscopic particle, which orients among possible paths via its sensing of a diffusible substance's concentration. We study experimentally the navigation of colloidal particles following concentration gradients by diffusiophoresis. We treat the situation as a mean first passage time (MFPT) problem that unveils the important role of a separatrix in the concentration field to determine the statistics of path taking. Further, we use numerical experiments to study different strategies, including biomimetic ones such as run and tumble or Markovian chemotactic migration. The discontinuity in the MFPT at the junction makes it remarkably difficult for microscopic agents to follow the shortest path, irrespective of adopted navigation strategy. In contrast, increasing the size of the sensing agents improves the efficiency of short-path taking by harvesting information on a larger scale. It inspires the development of a run-and-whirl dynamics that takes advantage of the mathematical properties of harmonic functions to emulate particles beyond their own size.}, author = {Gandhi, Tanvi and Mac Huang, Jinzi and Aubret, Antoine and Li, Yaocheng and Ramananarivo, Sophie and Vergassola, Massimo and Palacci, Jérémie A}, issn = {2469-990X}, journal = {Physical Review Fluids}, number = {10}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Decision-making at a T-junction by gradient-sensing microscopic agents}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevfluids.5.104202}, volume = {5}, year = {2020}, } @article{7534, abstract = {In the past two decades, our understanding of the transition to turbulence in shear flows with linearly stable laminar solutions has greatly improved. Regarding the susceptibility of the laminar flow, two concepts have been particularly useful: the edge states and the minimal seeds. In this nonlinear picture of the transition, the basin boundary of turbulence is set by the edge state's stable manifold and this manifold comes closest in energy to the laminar equilibrium at the minimal seed. We begin this paper by presenting numerical experiments in which three-dimensional perturbations are too energetic to trigger turbulence in pipe flow but they do lead to turbulence when their amplitude is reduced. We show that this seemingly counterintuitive observation is in fact consistent with the fully nonlinear description of the transition mediated by the edge state. In order to understand the physical mechanisms behind this process, we measure the turbulent kinetic energy production and dissipation rates as a function of the radial coordinate. Our main observation is that the transition to turbulence relies on the energy amplification away from the wall, as opposed to the turbulence itself, whose energy is predominantly produced near the wall. This observation is further supported by the similar analyses on the minimal seeds and the edge states. Furthermore, we show that the time evolution of production-over-dissipation curves provides a clear distinction between the different initial amplification stages of the transition to turbulence from the minimal seed.}, author = {Budanur, Nazmi B and Marensi, Elena and Willis, Ashley P. and Hof, Björn}, issn = {2469-990X}, journal = {Physical Review Fluids}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Upper edge of chaos and the energetics of transition in pipe flow}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevfluids.5.023903}, volume = {5}, year = {2020}, }