arXiv subjects

Umberto d'Ortona

Publications and source records attributed to Umberto d'Ortona.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Fluid transport by a single active filament in a three-dimensional two-phase flow

Micro-scale cilia play a vital role in mucociliary clearance (MCC) in the human respiratory airways. In this numerical study, we examine fluid transport driven by the active beating of a single filament immersed in a three-dimensional two-phase flow. The cilium is modeled as an elastic filament actuated by a time-varying basal angle. The two-phase flow is resolved using the Shan-Chen model in a lattice Boltzmann solver, while the two-way coupling between the filament and the fluid is treated by the immersed boundary method. Pathological conditions such as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are associated with drastic alterations of MCC properties, including changes in periciliary layer (PCL) thickness and the viscosity ratio between the PCL and the mucus layer (ML). Here, we systematically investigate the effects of these parameters, along with filament bending stiffness, on the beating pattern and fluid transport. Within the parameter ranges investigated, a moderate PCL thickness and viscosity ratio, together with high bending stiffness, tend to yield higher net flow rate and transport efficiency. The underlying hydrodynamic mechanisms are characterized through analyses of the beating pattern, filament dynamics, energy partition, and flow-field evolution. Two competing mechanisms are identified: the drag-elastic force balance and the viscous diffusion of momentum. Furthermore, quantitative relationships are established between flow rate and beating pattern, expressed in terms of tip amplitude and beating asymmetry.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Hydrodynamic coupling of a cilia--mucus system in Herschel--Bulkley flows

The yield stress and shear thinning properties of mucus are identified as critical for ciliary coordination and mucus transport in human airways. We use here numerical simulations to explore the hydrodynamic coupling of cilia and mucus with these two properties using the Herschel--Bulkley model, in a lattice Boltzmann solver for the fluid flow. Three mucus flow regimes, i.e. a poorly organized regime, a swirly regime, and a fully unidirectional regime, are observed and analysed by parametric studies. We systematically investigate the effects of ciliary density, interaction length, Bingham number and flow index on the mucus flow regime formation. The underlying mechanism of the regime formation is analysed in detail by examining the variation of two physical quantities (polarization and integral length) and the evolution of the flow velocity, viscosity and shear-rate fields. Mucus viscosity is found to be the dominant parameter influencing the regime formation when enhancing the yield stress and shear thinning properties. The present model is able to reproduce the solid body rotation observed in experiments (Loiseau et al. , Nat. Phys. , vol. 16, 2020, pp. 1158--1164). A more precise prediction can be achieved by incorporating non-Newtonian properties into the modelling of mucus as proposed by Gsell et al. ( Sci. Rep. , vol. 10, 2020, 8405).

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Origin of granular axial segregation bands in a rotating tumbler: An interface-mixing driven Rayleigh-Taylor instability

The origin of large and small particle axial bands in long rotating tumblers is a long-standing question. Using DEM simulations, we show that this axial segregation is due to a Rayleigh-Taylor instability which is characterized by the fact that the density of a granular medium increases with mixing and decreases with segregation. For initially mixed particles, segregation and collisional diffusion in the flowing layer balance and lead to a three-layer system, with a layer of large particles over a layer of small particles, and, interposed between these layers, a layer of more densely packed mixed particles. The higher density mixed particle layer over the lower density small particle layer induces a Rayleigh-Taylor instability, evident as waviness in the interface between the layers. The waviness destabilizes into ascending plumes of small particles and descending plumes of mixed particles with large particles enriched near the surface, which become evident as small and large particle bands visible at the free surface. Rolls driven by segregation at the tilted interface between plumes maintain the pattern of frozen plumes. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Mechanisms for recirculation cells in granular flows in rotating cylindrical rough tumblers

Friction at the endwalls of partially-filled horizontal rotating tumblers induces curvature and axial drift of particle trajectories in the surface flowing layer. Here we describe the results of a detailed discrete element method study of the dry granular flow of monodisperse particles in threedimensional cylindrical tumblers with endwalls and cylindrical wall that can be either smooth or rough. Endwall roughness induces more curved particle trajectories, while a smooth cylindrical wall enhances drift near the endwall. This drift induces recirculation cells near the endwall. The use of mixed roughness (cylindrical wall and endwalls having different roughness) shows the influence of each wall on the drift and curvature of particle trajectories as well as the modification of the free surface topography. The effects act in opposite directions and have variable magnitude along the length of the tumbler such that their sum determines both direction of net drift and the recirculation cells. Near the endwalls, the dominant effect is always the endwall effect, and the axial drift for surface particles is toward the endwalls. For long enough tumblers, a counter-rotating cell occurs adjacent to each of the endwall cells having a surface drift toward the center because the cylindrical wall effect is dominant there. These cells are not dynamically coupled with the two endwall cells. The competition between the drifts induced by the endwalls and the cylindrical wall determines the width and drift amplitude for both types of cells.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2020

Self-Induced Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Segregating Dry Granular Flows

Dry granular material flowing on rough inclines can experience a self-induced Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability followed by the spontaneous emergence of convection cells. For this to happen, particles are different in size and density, the larger particles are the denser but still segregate toward the surface. When the flow is, as usual, initially made of two layers, dense particles above, a Rayleigh-Taylor instability develops during the flow. When the flow is initially made of one homogeneous layer mixture, the granular segregation leads to the formation of an unstable layer of large-dense particles at the surface which subsequently destabilizes in a RT plume pattern. The unstable density gradient has been only induced by the motion of the granular matter. This self-induced Rayleigh-Taylor instability and the two-layer RT instability are studied using two different methods, experiments and simulations. At last, contrarily to the usual fluid behavior where the RT instability relaxes into two superimposed stable layers of fluid, the granular flow evolves to a pattern of alternated bands corresponing to recirculation cells analogous to Rayleigh-B{é}nard convection cells where segregation sustains the convective motion.

cond-mat.soft↗