Latest papers in fluid mechanics

Author(s): Michael Berhanu, Amit Dawadi, Martin Chaigne, Jérôme Jovet, and Arshad Kudrolli

We demonstrate that asymmetric ice blocks floating in water can self‑propel while melting. Experiments with triangular ice prisms show that melting generates a directed, buoyancy‑driven gravity current along the inclined face, producing steady translation. A momentum‑balance model quantitatively predicts the propulsion velocity as a function of ice geometry and bath temperature. This mechanism persists in saltwater at sufficiently warm temperatures, highlighting melting as a generic propulsion mechanism in buoyancy‑driven flows and a possible secondary contributor to iceberg drift.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033802] Published Fri Mar 13, 2026

Author(s): Giuseppe Procopio

Singular solutions in the stationary Stokes regime are reported for fluids confined by cylindrical walls. The stokeslet, stresslet, couplet, point source, and point source dipole are obtained internally, externally, and within the annular region between cylindrical walls using bitensorial calculus. Beyond providing hydrodynamic solutions relevant to particle transport in confined environments, this work highlights the strength of bitensorial calculus in handling curved geometries and systematically yielding hydrodynamic singularities within a unified framework. Forces on sedimenting particles and active microswimmers near cylindrical walls are investigated as an application.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034201] Published Fri Mar 13, 2026

Author(s): Melisa Y. Vinograd, Joaquín Cullen, and Patricio Clark Di Leoni

How many degrees of freedom characterize turbulent flow? We investigate the dimensionality of two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow across Reynolds numbers and forcing scales using convolutional autoencoders and Lyapunov analysis. Two dynamical transitions are identified, first associated with periodic-orbit destabilization and later with large-scale saturation. The resulting saturation dimension scales linearly with the forcing wavenumber rather than with the total number of available Fourier modes.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034402] Published Fri Mar 13, 2026

Author(s): Bowen Jin, Jiadong Wang, and Jian Deng

Intermittent swimming boosts efficiency—but at what cost? Using two-dimensional simulations of an unconstrained pitching foil, we show that burst-and-coast motion induces pronounced lateral drift and a sharp, amplitude-driven reversal in trajectory direction. The deflection is governed by Strouhal-controlled scaling and wake realignment across burst and glide phases. These results uncover how intermittent kinematics trade stability for energetic advantage.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034701] Published Fri Mar 13, 2026

Author(s): Aaron Winn and Eleni Katifori

Peristaltic pumping drives flow in diverse biological and engineered systems. Previous models focus solely on radius-imposed contraction waves or neglect the elastic coupling between radial and longitudinal strains. By describing the fluid using the material coordinates of the deforming wall, we analyze flow in a tube undergoing simultaneous transverse and longitudinal contractions. We show that the elastic coupling between circumferential and longitudinal strains strongly alters net transport, reflux, and trapping, as compared to the case with radial contractions alone.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033101] Published Thu Mar 12, 2026

Author(s): Dongfang Zhao, Yumin Shi, and Shengkai Wang

We developed a new method for high-resolution measurement of CO2 transport across the air–water interface, addressing a critical need in physical oceanography studies and in modern carbon sequestration applications. This method forgoes conventional probe-based sampling and statistical correlation, and exploits precision laser spectroscopy with rapid spatial beam scanning to directly quantify gas-phase CO2 distribution near the interface at millimeter and millisecond resolutions. To our knowledge, this is the first time such a level of resolution has been achieved. This method should prove useful in both field measurements and laboratory studies of cross-interface gas transport.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034903] Published Thu Mar 12, 2026

Author(s): Ting Zhong, Gaoxiao Jiang, Rui Ma, and Chenxu Wu

How a magnetic-bead-laden droplet is manipulated by a magnetic field remains a challenging topic of quantitative investigation. In this paper, we propose a theoretical model to investigate the equilibrium states of a magnetic-bead-laden droplet placed over either a bottomed superhydrophobic cylindri…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035102] Published Wed Mar 11, 2026

Author(s): Hugo Poncelet and Gautier Verhille

We investigated experimentally for the first time the rotational dynamics of flexible fibers in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. The rotation and the deformation of the fibers have been measured thanks to an efficient three-dimensional reconstruction algorithm from three simultaneous images. We show that an increase of fiber flexibility enhances the rotation rate. We show that this phenomenon is directly related to the amplitude of deformation.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034301] Published Wed Mar 11, 2026

Author(s): Christian Vaquero-Stainer, Tymoteusz Miara, Anne Juel, Matthias Heil, and Draga Pihler-Puzović

The motion of rigid bodies in viscous fluids at vanishing Reynolds number is governed entirely by its geometry. While highly symmetric particles like spheres and flat circular disks sediment without reorientation and chiral bodies follow helical trajectories, the dynamics of weakly asymmetric shapes remain difficult to predict. Here, we combine numerical simulations and experiments to investigate “pinched” U-shaped disks with a single plane of symmetry. By varying the degree of pinching, we demonstrate that this class of achiral particles can realize the complete spectrum of inertialess sedimentation behavior, from straight settling to robust quasiperiodic spiraling.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034102] Published Tue Mar 10, 2026

Author(s): Stéphane Dorbolo, Floriane Weyer, Alexandre Delory, Apurav Tambe, and Zhao Pan

A water droplet hanging from the tip of a vertical sugar fiber seems destined to fall as gravity overcomes capillarity. However, the droplet is also gradually dissolving its own support. Will the droplet fall? Sometimes. However, it may instead suddenly jump upward and climb the very fiber it consumes. We show how this counterintuitive motion emerges from the interplay of surface tension, gravity, and dissolution, and identify the conditions that determine whether the droplet falls or rises. This process may again occur until the droplet is full.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033605] Published Mon Mar 09, 2026

Author(s): Tetsuro Tsuji, Shoma Hashimoto, and Satoshi Taguchi

When tracers are scarce in flow measurement using particle imaging velocimetry (PIV), experimenters must wait for tracers to come in the test section, making measurements inefficient. To address this ill-suited case for PIV, the paper introduces optical trapping of a tracer; briefly let it go so the flow moves it, then pull it back at the same initial position. The method, termed as optically-trapped particle tracking velocimetry, is validated by measuring a slow microflow in a square microchannel. The authors also demonstrate an application to optothermal flows where tracers are depleted near the heat source, showing how ot-PTV can still probe tracer motion in an ill-suited case for PIV.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034901] Published Mon Mar 09, 2026

Author(s): Darren Crowdy

In a recent study of the formation of electric charge caps on a leaky dielectric droplet, it has been shown that, in the limit of high electric Reynolds number, the electric field problem satisfies a non-standard boundary value problem of mixed type. By using novel techniques involving consideration of a so-called prime function, this paper shows that it is possible to solve this mixed boundary value problem analytically.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034902] Published Mon Mar 09, 2026

Author(s): Ole Milark, Jean-Baptiste Salmon, and Benjamin Sobac

Drying of complex fluids is crucial in many natural and technological processes, yet predicting it and probing associated transport phenomena remain challenging. We introduce an original interferometry‑based method for confined two-dimensional droplets in a humidity‑controlled chamber, enabling simultaneous high‑precision, high‑resolution measurement of drying kinetics and internal concentration fields, providing a powerful tool to accurately characterize drying dynamics and transport in complex fluids.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033603] Published Fri Mar 06, 2026

Author(s): Xingsheng Li and Jing Li

Existing research on Worthington jets has paid most attention to those forced by cavity collapse. Focusing on the cavity-free regime across various sphere-liquid impact configurations, we derive a universal scaling law for the maximum jet height from first principles and identify three distinct pinch-off modes governed by Rayleigh–Plateau instability. Self-similar analysis accurately captures the evolution of jet shape and height, revealing gravity-dominated jet dynamics. These findings confirm that this jet undergoes a fundamentally different physical process from that in air-entrainment scenarios, thereby significantly enriching the classical Worthington jet phenomenon.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033604] Published Fri Mar 06, 2026

Author(s): S. P. Mousavi, H. Hassanzadeh, Y. Fan, F. Larachi, C. D. Ohl, and S. M. Taghavi

Cavitation bubbles near free surfaces are known to move rapidly away from the liquid surface and generate high-speed microjets. We demonstrate that viscoplastic fluids can fundamentally change this outcome by arresting the bubble and trapping it beneath the surface once a critical yield number is exceeded. A regime map classifies the flow into four regimes (swelling, trapped, bullet jet, and vapor jet), and a force-balance model provides a predictive framework for the bubble penetration depth.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033301] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026

Author(s): Schahin Akbari, Kilian Vinzenz Wilhelm, Dominik Plümacher, Florian Kummer, Yongqi Wang, and Martin Oberlack

We investigate the nonlinear axisymmetric oscillations of non-viscous droplets with a focus on superimposed initial deformations, in which an even mode with large amplitude is superimposed on an odd mode at small amplitude. Our analysis of modal coupling shows that the even mode with large amplitude strongly influences the odd mode with small amplitude due to asymmetries in local curvature and restoring forces between flattened and elongated shapes (as in the image), while the odd mode with small amplitude has only a minor influence in return.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033602] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026

Author(s): Georgios Giamagas, Cyrille Bonamy, Koen Blanckaert, and Julien Chauchat

Large-eddy simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations under the Boussinesq approximation investigate the hydrodynamics of a three-dimensional hyperpycnal plume over a sloping bed. In the unconfined configuration, plunging is governed by lateral slumping rather than by a critical densimetric Froude number, producing a characteristic triangular surface pattern and a distinct downstream wake. The wake extent increases significantly with increasing inflow densimetric Froude number and agrees with field observations of the Rhone River inflow into Lake Geneva. Total entrainment increases with decreasing densimetric Froude number due to enhanced lateral spreading and increased underflow velocity.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033801] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026

Author(s): Gaspare Li Causi, Enrico Amico, and Jacopo Serpieri

The recent literature on wall blowing flow control was here adapted to suction-based laminar flow control (LFC) to study efficient control scenarios. These are evaluated by means of a numerical framework deploying fast and relatively accurate CFD and flow transition solvers embedded in an efficient optimization routine. More than 700 combinations of LFC parameters were explored showcasing the flow sensitivity to the deployed control and yielding to power savings overcoming the value of 30%.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 033901] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026

Author(s): Joseph J. Williams, Zachary G. Nicolaou, J. Nathan Kutz, and Steven L. Brunton

The vortex shedding phenomenon has long fascinated researchers, yet only recently has the behavior of unstable growth and saturation been placed on firm mathematical footing through the Stuart–Landau and Ginzburg–Landau equations. While these models capture key aspects of the dynamics, a complete understanding of vortex shedding remains elusive. Here, we use data-driven methods trained on coarse-grained numerical flow data to learn distinct local models at multiple stations in the downstream wake. This approach yields new insight into the nature of the instability, the wavemaker region, and vortex shedding itself.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034401] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026

Author(s): F. M. Ventrella, V. J. Valadão, G. Boffetta, S. Musacchio, and F. De Lillo

In the presence of linear friction, the properties of two-dimensional turbulence deviate from the classical Kraichnan phenomenology. The enstrophy flux in the direct cascade is suppressed resulting in a steeper energy spectrum. The spectral exponent can be predicted in terms of the statistics of the Lagrangian finite time Lyapunov exponent. We numerically verify this prediction and propose a simple phenomenological model for the dependence of the Lyapunov exponent on friction intensity.

[Phys. Rev. Fluids 11, 034604] Published Thu Mar 05, 2026