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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 57: Networks: From Topology to Dynamics II (joint session DY/SOE)
DY 57.3: Talk
Friday, March 22, 2024, 10:15–10:30, BH-N 128
Stimulating self-optimisation of flow networks for transport — Julien Bouvard1, •Swarnavo Basu2, Charlotte Leu3, Onurcan Bektas2,3, Joachim Rädler3, Gabriel Amselem1, and Karen Alim2 — 1Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique, CNRS, École polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France — 2School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Germany — 3Soft Condensed Matter Group, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Transport of substances via fluid flow in networks is ubiquitous in biology (e.g. blood vasculature) and engineering (e.g. porous media). Many biological networks can self-organise in response to stimuli by homogenising flow to achieve optimal perfusion and transport. In contrast, engineered networks of random media have heterogeneous flow velocity distributions. Self-organising engineered networks that can homogenise flow will have many applications, e.g. cooling batteries, chemical reactors and in vitro vasculature for perfusing tissues and implants. We show, experimentally and theoretically, that self-optimisation can be achieved in networks with eroding walls. Perfusing such a network with short pulses of an eroding agent achieves homogenisation of flow velocities across the network, thus, providing us with a framework for engineering self-optimising networks.