Fluid dynamics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the behaviors of droplets at nanoscales is crucial to many applications, yet it remains experimentally challenging to track them in real time. Here, Sbarra et al. use a miniature optomechanical resonator to probe the evaporation dynamics of attoliter droplets with millisecond resolution.

    • Samantha Sbarra
    • , Louis Waquier
    •  & Ivan Favero

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of geometrical confinement on the locomotion of microrobots is crucial to operating them in real-world applications. Bozuyuk et al. show that the locomotion efficiency of microrollers decreases in confined spaces at high rotation frequencies and propose a slender geometry to overcome this problem.

    • Ugur Bozuyuk
    • , Amirreza Aghakhani
    •  & Metin Sitti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dispersive transport through complex media, relevant for semiconductors, liquid crystals, and biological soft matter, is influenced by their microscopic, porous structure. The authors consider the statistics of pore-junction units, in contrast to individual pores, to link morphology and macroscopic transport characteristics.

    • Felix J. Meigel
    • , Thomas Darwent
    •  & Karen Alim

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spontaneous droplet jumping and control of dropwise condensation are relevant for water-harvesting, heat transfer and anti-frosting applications. The authors design a superhydrophobic surface with microscale thin-walled lattice structure to achieve effective jumping of droplets with specified radius range.

    • Chen Ma
    • , Li Chen
    •  & Quanshui Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While liquid-liquid interface offers better contact and charge transfer potential than solid-based counterparts, fluidity still poses challenges for their application. Here, authors show that charge transfer exists in aqueous two-phase systems and propose a nanogenerator design based on the immiscible aqueous-aqueous interface.

    • Ye Lu
    • , Longlong Jiang
    •  & Xiaoxiong Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Salvinia molesta plant has the ability to maintain a stable air layer when submerged underwater due to its specific form. The authors propose here a soft lithography fabrication method of artificial Salvinia leaf assisted with capillary-force induced clustering of micropillar array, for hydrodynamic drag reduction.

    • Minsu Kim
    • , Seunghoon Yoo
    •  & Moon Kyu Kwak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are related to different characteristics and behavior of fluids. Here the authors report an experiment and simulation combined study of a global non-axisymmetric MHD instability that exists at sufficiently large rotation rates and intermediate magnetic field strengths.

    • Yin Wang
    • , Erik P. Gilson
    •  & Hantao Ji

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wetland vegetation is typically considered only in terms of enhancing sediment accretion and positively impacting land-building. Here, the authors show that the degree of enhancement has a strong dependence on vegetation density through the influence on sediment supply and retention.

    • Yuan Xu
    • , Christopher R. Esposito
    •  & Heidi M. Nepf

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Elastic deformation of soft substrates occurs upon wetting, yet it is challenging to follow its dynamics at a microscale. Khattak et al. show that the force required to pull a droplet along a soft surface decreases monotonically as the film thickness decreases and explain the phenomenon using a scaling analysis.

    • Hamza K. Khattak
    • , Stefan Karpitschka
    •  & Kari Dalnoki-Veress

  • Article
    | Open Access

    All-in-liquid printing promises applications from energy storage to drug delivery and tissue engineering. Here, authors present the in-situ generation of layered emulsion in a fraction of a second at the oil-water interface forming 3D tube-like structures in a liquid medium.

    • Parisa Bazazi
    • , Howard A. Stone
    •  & S. Hossein Hejazi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Typical buildings are static structures, unable to adjust to dynamic temperature and daylight fluctuations. Here, authors present an adaptive alternative, using shape-tuneable pigment injections to control solar ingress and reduce estimated building energy use by 30%.

    • Raphael Kay
    • , Charlie Katrycz
    •  & Benjamin D. Hatton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Most porous systems comprise structures characterized by dead-end and transmitting pores. Here, authors show that macroscopic transport through such porous medium is controlled by structure-induced laminar vortices inside each dead-end pore, and such cannot be explained by diffusion alone.

    • Ankur Deep Bordoloi
    • , David Scheidweiler
    •  & Pietro de Anna

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Guided drop transport at high temperature is of great importance in various water and thermal management technologies. Here, authors report a steerable drop transport dictated by the drop boiling states on heated concentric microgroove arrays.

    • Cong Liu
    • , Chenguang Lu
    •  & Yahua Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While a hallmark of living systems, developing sensory-motor interactions in inanimate systems remains challenging. Here, authors show that nanoporous surfaces can be used to create stimuli-responsive droplet interplay with shape transformation and complex behaviours reminiscent of living cell actions.

    • Agustin D. Pizarro
    • , Claudio L. A. Berli
    •  & Martín G. Bellino

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Complexities of laser-material interactions pose a challenge to minimize defects in additively manufactured metal parts. Here the authors visualize all phases of matter simultaneously to expand understanding of the interactions and show atmospheric information can characterize process stability.

    • I. Bitharas
    • , N. Parab
    •  & A. J. Moore

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biological and artificial microswimmers often navigate channels under external flow, where in many biomicroswimmers the active upstream motion is oscillatory. Here the authors demonstrate that regular, controllable, and reproducible oscillatory rheotaxis can be observed in artificial microswimmers.

    • Ranabir Dey
    • , Carola M. Buness
    •  & Corinna C. Maass

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tactoids, consisting of micro-confined liquid crystalline colloids with self-selected shape, bear both fundamental and technological significance. The authors show that the shape relaxation of tactoids follows an exponential decay and develop a model to predict this out-of-the-equilibrium process.

    • Hamed Almohammadi
    • , Sayyed Ahmad Khadem
    •  & Raffaele Mezzenga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wave breaking mechanisms relevant for modelling of ocean-atmosphere interaction and rogue waves, remain computationally challenging. The authors propose a machine learning framework for prediction of breaking and its effects on wave evolution that can be applied for forecasting of real world sea states.

    • D. Eeltink
    • , H. Branger
    •  & T. P. Sapsis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marginal seas are surrounded by continents and respond quickly to climate change effects. Here the authors show that the rotating circulation is structured by energetic hotspots with large vorticity identifiable by the Stokes' Theorem.

    • Jianping Gan
    • , Hiusuet Kung
    •  & Junlu Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Turbulent flows are observed in atmosphere, ocean, and technology, with turbulent mixing due to stretching and folding of material elements. The authors analyze a geometric perspective of this process and uncover statistical properties of an ensemble of material loops in a turbulent environment.

    • Lukas Bentkamp
    • , Theodore D. Drivas
    •  & Michael Wilczek

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The dynamic process behind the low-speed drop-impact erosion remains challenging to understand. Cheng et al. develop a method of high-speed microscopy, revealing the fast propagation of self-similar stress maxima underneath impacting drops and the formation of surface waves on impacted substrates.

    • Ting-Pi Sun
    • , Franco Álvarez-Novoa
    •  & Xiang Cheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Acoustic waves can be used to manipulate particles and fluids in biomedical applications. The authors show that slip at the fluid-solid interface, characterized by a lower acoustic transmission into the fluid, is similar to Amontons-Coulomb friction, as found between solids. 

    • Aurore Quelennec
    • , Jason J. Gorman
    •  & Darwin R. Reyes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Droplet generators convert mechanical movements of droplets into small-scale electricity. Here, Tang et al. report a humidity-driven power generator by utilizing daily humidity fluctuation in atmosphere enabling continuous generation of electricity upon moisture absorption and desorption cycles.

    • Jiayue Tang
    • , Yuanyuan Zhao
    •  & Shuang Zheng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rotor-like dynamics is observed in many natural systems, from the rotor proteins in cellular membranes to atmospheric models. Here, the authors uncover geometrical conservation laws that limit distribution of driven rotors in a membrane or a soap film and allow to predict their structural states.

    • Naomi Oppenheimer
    • , David B. Stein
    •  & Michael J. Shelley

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tsunamis are devastating events. They are especially difficult to predict, when generated by landslides. In this paper, the authors overcome this issue by modelling the landslide and the tsunami in a unified framework in unprecedented detail.

    • Matthias Rauter
    • , Sylvain Viroulet
    •  & Finn Løvholt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The manipulation of nano-objects in liquid environments is relevant for sensor systems, chemical design, and screening in medical applications. The authors propose an approach to manipulate nano-objects based on nanoscale hydrodynamic boundary flows induced by optical heat generation.

    • Martin Fränzl
    •  & Frank Cichos

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The classical framework of bubble fragmentation in turbulence usually only considers eddies of the bubble size. The authors present an experimental evidence that bubbles can be broken by the eddies of various sizes, supported by analytical model that includes the bubble and eddy scales, and the bubble breakup time.

    • Yinghe Qi
    • , Shiyong Tan
    •  & Rui Ni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Why are lubricant-infused surfaces so effective at reducing drag in microfluidic flow? Here, authors reveal that infused nanostructured Teflon wrinkles induce large interfacial slip due to the spontaneous nucleation of surface nanobubbles, a mechanism likely to occur on most rough infused surfaces.

    • Christopher Vega-Sánchez
    • , Sam Peppou-Chapman
    •  & Chiara Neto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Control of droplet coalescence is a major challenge of droplet microfluidics. Here, the authors show that homogenous external electric field can induce dipoles inside droplets, which can be used to withdraw samples from an array of droplets.

    • Johannes Hartmann
    • , Maximilian T. Schür
    •  & Steffen Hardt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Megaripples are sand landforms found in wind-blown environments. A newly identified characteristic signature of the underlying bimodal sand transport process is found in the grain-size distribution on megaripples and could lend insight into transport conditions on Earth and other planetary bodies.

    • Katharina Tholen
    • , Thomas Pähtz
    •  & Klaus Kroy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The hazards of pyroclastic surges remain poorly mitigated globally. Here, the authors show that their destructiveness is amplified by turbulent excursions of dynamic pressure energy that focusses inside the largest eddies and internal gravity waves.

    • Ermanno Brosch
    • , Gert Lube
    •  & Luke Fullard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blood microcirculation supplies neurons with oxygen and nutrients, and contributes to clearing their neurotoxic waste. Here, the authors analyse blood flow simulations to establish the physical laws linking the microvascular architecture to the macroscopic transport properties that control oxygen supply and waste clearance.

    • Florian Goirand
    • , Tanguy Le Borgne
    •  & Sylvie Lorthois

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A solid hitting a liquid surface normally creates a region of high pressure at the solid-liquid contact area. Now, it is shown that for a flat-bottomed cylinder hitting a liquid at low-enough impact speed, the local pressure is sufficiently low to cause the liquid to cavitate.

    • Nathan B. Speirs
    • , Kenneth R. Langley
    •  & Sigurdur T. Thoroddsen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Satellite drops formed on droplet impact hinder applications from inkjet printing to drop energy harvest. Here, authors reveal that patterned-wettability surfaces can break the symmetry of droplet impacts and suppress the Plateau–Rayleigh instability, preventing satellite drop generation and improving the hydropower harvest.

    • Zhipeng Zhao
    • , Huizeng Li
    •  & Yanlin Song

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial biofilms exhibit complex spatiotemporal pattern formation. Here the authors report a collective cell reorientation cascade in growing Vibrio cholerae biofilms that leads to a differentially ordered, spatiotemporally coupled core-rim structure.

    • Japinder Nijjer
    • , Changhao Li
    •  & Jing Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How structurally complex interfaces mediate bubble bursting might significantly impact environmental and industrial processes. Here, authors investigate the bubble-bursting jets dynamics of oil-covered aqueous surface and show how these can also disperse insoluble organic contaminants.

    • Bingqiang Ji
    • , Zhengyu Yang
    •  & Jie Feng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microswimmers can navigate porous environments, however the impact of their directed motility on their movement in fluid flow remains an open issue. The authors show that the motility of magnetotactic bacteria in flow through a porous constriction gives rise to nonlinear flow conductivity similar to electrical diodes.

    • Nicolas Waisbord
    • , Amin Dehkharghani
    •  & Jeffrey S. Guasto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In classical wetting, the spreading of a drop on a surface is preceded by a bridge directly connecting the drop and the surface, yet it ignores the solubility of the drop phase in the medium. Here, the authors show that dissolved drop fluid from the parent drop can nucleate on the surface as islands, one of which coalesces with the parent drop to effect wetting.

    • Suraj Borkar
    •  & Arun Ramachandran

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whereas transitions from solid- to fluid-like states in systems of active particles have received much attention, the characterization of phase transitions in active fluids with self-organized vortices so far has remained elusive. James et al. take us on a numerical tour de force from active turbulence to active vortex crystals.

    • Martin James
    • , Dominik Anton Suchla
    •  & Michael Wilczek

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Balances for nanoparticles such as resonating fluid-filled cantilevers usually probe only mass through changes in oscillation frequency. Katsikis and Collis et al. tap information from previously ignored rotational motion to simultaneously measure particle mass and volume.

    • Georgios Katsikis
    • , Jesse F. Collis
    •  & Scott R. Manalis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spontaneous symmetry breaking can induce instabilities in natural and engineered systems. Nicolaou et al. show that such instabilities can be prevented by introducing suitable system asymmetry in the form of spatial heterogeneity, relevant for the development of novel control and design techniques.

    • Zachary G. Nicolaou
    • , Daniel J. Case
    •  & Adilson E. Motter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Estimating velocities in gas liquid flows is of importance in many engineering applications. Hohermuth et al. show that previous bubble velocities obtained from intrusive probes have been underestimated and provide a correction scheme for more accurate velocity measurements.

    • B. Hohermuth
    • , M. Kramer
    •  & D. Valero

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