CAREER: Mixing and Vorticity Dynamics in Active Fluid Systems

职业：主动流体系统中的混合和涡度动力学

• 批准号: 2045621
• 负责人: Kun-Ta Wu
• 金额: $ 52.09万
• 依托单位: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045621&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Mixing; Vorticity; Dynamics; Active

This CAREER project will explore the mixing dynamics and kinematics of active fluid systems. Researchers and industrial practitioners often use microfluidic technology to process tiny quantities of fluids, which minimizes waster and enhances flexibility and efficiency. Microfluidic systems manipulate fluids at a very small scale, typically smaller than one millimeter. Progress in microfluidic technology is limited by the challenge of mixing at a small scale, because it is difficult to generate turbulence at in very small channels. Active fluids are fluids containing discrete entities that move under their own power and may be able to promote local mixing. Even in tiny spaces, active fluids can generates turbulence and promote micromixing. This research will explore the mixing process and vortex dynamics of active fluids, including the equations that describe the process, the effects of varying fluid activity and boundary conditions, and the effects of combining an active fluid with an inactive fluid. The resulting knowledge will stimulate development of new micromixing technologies that will increase production efficiency in the chemical engineering and pharmaceutical industries, enable products to be synthesized on demand, and reduce the need to store and transport hazardous or reactive chemicals. This project will also provide K-12 students with hands-on experiences in mixing dynamics through a contest mixing two different colors of dough and an online active matter simulation program. This project will also include an online teacher training module to help bring active matter concepts to US classrooms.Active turbulence has been characterized and modeled, but little is known about how active turbulence facilitates mixing. Several fundamental questions remain unanswered, such as, “What is the mixing efficiency of an active fluid system?” and “What parameters control the mixing efficiency of active fluid?” To address these questions and expand knowledge about active turbulence-induced mixing, the mixing process of microtubule-kinesin active fluid will be modeled by modifying established active nematohydrodynamic equations developed to characterize active turbulence. This project will extend the existing active nematohydrodynamic model to describe active fluid systems with inhomogeneous activity, a moving boundary, and multiple fluids. The expanded model, which will be validated with accompanying experiments, will guide the application of active fluid in science and industry and allow engineers to efficiently explore parameter space to optimize novel self- mixing systems, particularly at the micron scale. This project will connect two well-established fields— mixing and active fluid modelling —and thus extend established mixing theory to include active fluids and elucidate differences between how active and passive fluids mix.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个职业项目将探索主动流体系统的混合动力学和运动学。研究人员和工业从业者经常使用微流体技术来处理少量流体，从而最大限度地减少浪费并提高灵活性和效率。微流体系统以非常小的尺度操纵流体，通常小于一毫米。微流体技术的进展受到小规模混合的挑战的限制，因为很难在非常小的通道中产生湍流。活性流体是包含离散实体的流体，这些离散实体在其自身的动力下移动并且可能能够促进局部混合。 即使在微小的空间中，活性流体也可以产生湍流并促进微观混合。本研究将探讨活跃流体的混合过程和涡旋动力学，包括描述该过程的方程，不同流体活动和边界条件的影响，以及将活跃流体与非活跃流体相结合的影响。由此产生的知识将刺激新的微混合技术的发展，这将提高化学工程和制药工业的生产效率，使产品能够按需合成，并减少储存和运输危险或反应性化学品的需要。该项目还将通过混合两种不同颜色的面团和在线活性物质模拟程序的比赛，为K-12学生提供混合动力学的实践经验。该项目还将包括一个在线教师培训模块，以帮助将活性物质的概念带到美国的课堂上。活性湍流已经被描述和建模，但对活性湍流如何促进混合知之甚少。几个基本问题仍未得到解答，例如“主动流体系统的混合效率是多少？”以及“什么参数控制活性流体的混合效率？”为了解决这些问题，并扩大知识的主动湍流诱导的混合，微管驱动的主动流体的混合过程将通过修改已建立的主动线虫流体动力学方程来描述主动湍流。本计画将延伸现有的主动线虫流体动力学模式，以描述具有不均匀活动、移动边界及多重流体的主动流体系统。扩展的模型将通过伴随的实验进行验证，将指导活性流体在科学和工业中的应用，并允许工程师有效地探索参数空间，以优化新型自混合系统，特别是在微米尺度上。该项目将连接两个成熟的领域-混合和主动流体建模-从而扩展已建立的混合理论，包括主动流体和阐明主动和被动流体如何混合之间的差异。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

项目成果

From chaos to order: Boundary-driven flow transitions in microtubule-kinesin active fluid

从混沌到有序：微管驱动蛋白活性流体中边界驱动的流动转变

• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Bulletin of the American Physical Society
• 作者: Dickie, J.H.;Weng, T.;Chen, Y.-C.;He, Y.;Saxena, S;Pelcovits, R.;Powers, T.R.;Wu, K.-T.
• 通讯作者: Wu, K.-T.

Tunable spontaneous circulation of microtubule-based active fluid confined in a compressed water-in-oil droplet using milli-fluidic devices

使用毫流体装置限制在压缩油包水滴中的基于微管的活性流体的可调谐自发循环

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Bulletin of the American Physical Society
• 作者: Chen, Yen-Chen;Jolicoeur, Brock;Chueh, Chih-Che;Wu, Kun-Ta
• 通讯作者: Wu, Kun-Ta

Confinement-induced flow patterns in microtubule-based active fluids

基于微管的活性流体中约束引起的流动模式

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Bulletin of the American Physical Society
• 作者: Jarvis, Edward;Wu, Kun-Ta
• 通讯作者: Wu, Kun-Ta

Competition of convection and diffusion in the self-mixing of microtubule-kinesin active fluid with non-uniform activity: Simulation

非均匀活性微管驱动蛋白活性流体自混合中对流与扩散的竞争：模拟

• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Bulletin of the American Physical Society
• 作者: Dickie, Joshua H;Bate, Teagan;Varney, Megan;Taylor, Ezra;Chueh, Chih-Che;Norton, Michael M;Wu, Kun-Ta
• 通讯作者: Wu, Kun-Ta

Promoting active matter field through a Vicsek model-based simulation and an online teaching module

通过基于 Vicsek 模型的模拟和在线教学模块促进活性物质场

• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Bulletin of the American Physical Society
• 作者: Lian, Meng;Bate, Teagan;Wu, Kun-Ta
• 通讯作者: Wu, Kun-Ta