Foundation and challenges in modelling Dilute Active Suspensions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Fung, Lloyd, Caldag, Hakan O., Bees, Martin A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Fung, Lloyd
Caldag, Hakan O.
Bees, Martin A.
author_facet Fung, Lloyd
Caldag, Hakan O.
Bees, Martin A.
contents Active suspensions, which consist of suspended self-propelling particles such as swimming microorganisms, often exhibit non-trivial transport properties. Continuum models are frequently employed to elucidate phenomena in active suspensions, such as shear trapping of bacteria, bacterial turbulence, and bioconvection patterns in suspensions of algae. Yet, these models are often empirically derived and may not always agree with the individual-based description of active particles. Here we establish a more rigorous foundation to fully develop a continuum model based on the respective microscopic dynamics through coarse-graining. All the assumptions needed to reach popular continuum models from a multi-particle Fokker-Planck equation, which governs the probability of the full configuration space, are explicitly presented. In the dilute limit, this approach leads to the mean-field model (a.k.a. Doi-Saintillan-Shelley model), which can be further reduced to a continuum equation for particle density. Moreover, we review the limitations and highlight the challenges related to continuum descriptions, including significant issues in implementing physical boundary conditions and the possible emergence of singular solutions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_08220
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Foundation and challenges in modelling Dilute Active Suspensions
Fung, Lloyd
Caldag, Hakan O.
Bees, Martin A.
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Biological Physics
Fluid Dynamics
Active suspensions, which consist of suspended self-propelling particles such as swimming microorganisms, often exhibit non-trivial transport properties. Continuum models are frequently employed to elucidate phenomena in active suspensions, such as shear trapping of bacteria, bacterial turbulence, and bioconvection patterns in suspensions of algae. Yet, these models are often empirically derived and may not always agree with the individual-based description of active particles. Here we establish a more rigorous foundation to fully develop a continuum model based on the respective microscopic dynamics through coarse-graining. All the assumptions needed to reach popular continuum models from a multi-particle Fokker-Planck equation, which governs the probability of the full configuration space, are explicitly presented. In the dilute limit, this approach leads to the mean-field model (a.k.a. Doi-Saintillan-Shelley model), which can be further reduced to a continuum equation for particle density. Moreover, we review the limitations and highlight the challenges related to continuum descriptions, including significant issues in implementing physical boundary conditions and the possible emergence of singular solutions.
title Foundation and challenges in modelling Dilute Active Suspensions
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Biological Physics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.08220