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Flow fields around active droplets squeezing through tight confinements

Subhasish Guchhait1,*, Smita S. Sontakke1,*, Shubhadeep Mandal2, and Ranabir Dey1,†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: ranabir@mae.iith.ac.in
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Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, 044202 – Published 8 April, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.10.044202

Abstract

Biological microswimmers, like euglena, deform their body shape to swim through tight confinements having length scales comparable to the microswimmer length scale. Recently, it was shown that self-propelling active droplets can also squeeze through tight microconfinements by elongating their shape. However, the evolution of the velocity field generated by the active droplet as it deforms its shape to swim through increasingly tight microconfinements has remained scarcely studied. Using high-resolution fluorescence microscopy and μ-particle image velocimetry analysis, we show here that as the swimming active droplet deforms from a spherical shape to a “stadiumlike” shape, and eventually to an elongated “capsulelike” shape in increasingly tighter microchannels, its hydrodynamic signature gradually changes from a symmetric, quadrupolar velocity field to an asymmetric velocity field. We characterize such alterations in the active droplet dynamics using the distributions of the local velocity magnitude, axial and transverse components of the local flow velocity, vorticity, and the ejected filled micelle concentration. Finally, we use finite-element-method-based numerical simulations to provide a qualitative understanding of the evolution of the velocity field stemming from the underlying physicochemical hydrodynamics in presence of a thin lubrication film. The present work delineates the chemohydrodynamic characteristics of active droplets navigating extreme confined spaces, which can be beneficial for many autonomous cargo-delivery applications in complex environment.

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Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, 044202– Published 8 April, 2025
  • Received 9 July 2024
  • Accepted 28 February 2025
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