On the preferential sampling of helicity by isotropic helicoids

ORAL

Abstract

We present a theoretical and numerical study on the motion of isotropic helicoids in complex flows. These are particles whose motion is invariant under rotations but not under mirror reflections of the particle. This is the simplest, yet unexplored, extension of the much studied case of small spherical particles. We show that heavy isotropic helicoids, due to the coupling between translational and rotational degrees of freedom, preferentially sample different helical regions in laminar or chaotic advecting flows. This opens the way to control and engineer particles able to track complex flow structures with potential applications to microfluidics and turbulence.

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Authors

  • Luca Biferale

    Department of Physics and INFN, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Deparment of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata and INFN, Department of Physics \& INFN, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.

  • Kristian Gustavsson

    Deparment of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata and Dept. Physics University of Gotheborg

  • Riccardo Scatamacchia

    Deparment of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata and INFN