Deformation of a flexible fiber in a viscous flow past an obstacle

Abstract

We study the deformation and transport of elastic fibers in a viscous Hele-Shaw flow with curved streamlines. The variations of the global velocity and orientation of the fiber follow closely those of the local flow velocity. The ratios of the curvatures of the fibers by the corresponding curvatures of the streamlines reflect a balance between elastic and viscous forces: this ratio is shown experimentally to be determined by a dimensionless Sperm number Sp combining the characteristic parameters of the flow (transverse velocity gradient, viscosity, fiber diameter/cell gap ratio) and those of the fiber (diameter, effective length, Young's modulus). For short fibers, the effective length is that of the fiber; for long ones, it is equal to the transverse characteristic length of the flow. For Sp ≲ 250, the ratio of the curvatures increases linearly with Sp; for Sp ≲ 250, the fiber reaches the same curvature as the streamlines.