Effect of thermal noise on vesicles and capsules in shear flow

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Jul;86(1 Pt 1):010902. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.010902. Epub 2012 Jul 30.

Abstract

We add thermal noise consistently to reduced models of undeformable vesicles and capsules in shear flow and derive analytically the corresponding stochastic equations of motion. We calculate the steady-state probability distribution function and construct the corresponding phase diagrams for the different dynamical regimes. For fluid vesicles, we predict that at small shear rates thermal fluctuations induce a tumbling motion for any viscosity contrast. For elastic capsules, due to thermal mixing, an intermittent regime appears in regions where deterministic models predict only pure tank treading or tumbling.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computer Simulation
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Models, Biological*
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Shear Strength
  • Transport Vesicles / chemistry*
  • Viscosity