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The shape stability of a lipid vesicle in a uniaxial extensional flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2013

Hong Zhao  and
Eric S. G. Shaqfeh
Hong Zhao*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Eric S. G. Shaqfeh
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: hongzhao@stanford.edu
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Abstract

The dynamics of a lipid vesicle in a uniaxial extensional flow are investigated by using a spectral boundary integral equation method. The vesicle at its stationary state assumes an axisymmetric shape of mirror symmetry, with its surface velocity vanishing everywhere. When the reduced volume of the vesicle is less than 0.75, there exists a critical capillary number, beyond which the stationary shape is unstable. The most unstable mode breaks the mirror symmetry of the shape so that the vesicle deforms into a dumbbell shape with two unequally sized ends. This is followed by the formation of a thin tube bridging the two dumbbell ends, whose length increases with time. The numerical results are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations.

JFM classification

Biological Fluid Dynamics: Capsule/cell dynamics Instability: Instability Low-Reynolds-number flows: Low-Reynolds-number flows
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 719 , 25 March 2013 , pp. 345 - 361
Copyright
©2013 Cambridge University Press

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