Study of flow of crystals and deformable particles in a channel and the effective segregation of soft and hard particles

TL;DR

This study uses molecular dynamics simulations to analyze how deformable particles flow in a channel and demonstrates effective segregation of soft and hard particles based on their deformability and channel width.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation analysis of deformable 2D particles in flow, revealing how deformability influences flow behavior and segregation in confined geometries.

Findings

Deformability affects flow properties of particles in channels.

Segregation of soft and hard particles occurs at small channel widths.

Higher density and stiffness influence the emergence of fluid layers at channel edges.

Abstract

Soft matters whose constituents are deformable are ubiquitous in nature especially in biological systems-including cells and their organelles-as well as in foams and emulsions. The capacity for deformation in these soft materials gives rise to a range of intriguing phenomena, such as glassy behavior without any size dispersity, cluster crystal formation, and re-entrant melting. Deformability also plays a crucial role in facilitating essential biological processes, such as the flow of blood through veins and arteries. In this work, we investigate assemblies of two-dimensional (2D) polymeric, non-overlapping rings, which mimic deformable particulates in 2D using extensive molecular dynamics simulations. The rings are confined in a rectangular channel with hard walls perpendicular to the flow direction, mimicking natural flow conditions. We analyze the flow properties of these deformable particle assemblies at two different stiffness values. To further asses the impact of deformability, we examine the same monodisperse system at higher densities for the stiffer rings, where deformation is necessary and a fluid layer emerges at the channel edges. Finally, we explore a mixture of rings with two distinct stiffnesses and observe effective segregation of soft and hard particles at small channel widths.