Berkeley Fluids Seminar
University of California, Berkeley
Bring your lunch and enjoy learning about fluids!
December 10, 2014
Dr. Joanna B. Dahl (Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley)
Observation of Asymmetric Instability of Intermediate-Reduced-Volume Vesicles in Extensional Flow
Vesicles provide an attractive model system to understand the deformation of living cells in response to mechanical forces. These simple, enclosed lipid bilayer membranes are suitable for complementary theoretical, numerical, and experimental analysis. A recent study (Narsimhan, Spann, and Shaqfeh. in J. Fluid Mech. 750: 144-190, 2014) predicted that intermediate-aspect-ratio vesicles break up asymmetrically in extensional flow. Upon infinitesimal perturbation to the vesicle shape, the vesicle stretches into an asymmetric dumbbell with a cylindrical thread separating the two ends. In this work, we present preliminary results from cross-slot, microfluidic experiments observing this instability. The onset of breakup depends on two non-dimensional parameters: reduced volume (a measure of vesicle asphericity) and capillary number (ratio of viscous to bending forces). We will present vesicle formation protocols and image-analysis strategies for accurately measuring these quantities in order to plot a stability diagram. In particular, we will describe our synthesis of floppy, intermediate-reduced-volume vesicles and our measurement of their bending moduli by analyzing membrane thermal fluctuations. A preliminary phase diagram for asymmetric breakup will be reported.
Acknowledgments
Prof. Graham Fleming (Vice Chancellor for Research, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Eliot Quataert on behalf of The Theoretical Astrophysics Center and the Astronomy Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Philip S. Marcus on behalf of the Mechanical Engineering Department (UC Berkeley)
Prof. Michael Manga (Earth and Planetary Science, UC Berkeley)
Prof. Evan Variano (Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley)