Spontaneous Formation of Waves in Beds of Slender Microposts

In a viscoelastic flow over a microfluidic canopy of polymeric pillars, Charlotte de Blois (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France) and colleagues report the spontaneous emergence of waves in the form of propagating regions of low velocity compared to the surrounding flow. The occurrence of the wave is chaotic and shows characteristics of elastic turbulence. De Blois and colleagues systematically studied the coupling between the low-velocity wave and the microfluidic canopy by combining flow velocimetry experiments and high-speed tracking of the pillars. De Blois and colleagues recently had their research published in Physical Review Fluids.

De Blois will sit down with the Physical Review Journal Club and present experiments and their results, followed by a live question-and-answer session with all attendees moderated by PRFluids Associate Editor Cécile Cottin-Bizonne (University of Lyon, France).

Registration is free, and a video recording will be available to all registrants afterward.