Shearing active gels close to the isotropic-nematic transition.
We study numerically the rheological properties of a slab of active gel close to the isotropic-nematic transition. The flow behavior shows a strong dependence on the sample size, boundary conditions, and on the bulk constitutive curve, which, on entering the nematic phase, acquires an activity-induced discontinuity at the origin. The precursor of this within the metastable isotropic phase for contractile systems (e.g., actomyosin gels) gives a viscosity divergence; its counterpart for extensile suspensions admits instead a shear-banded flow with zero apparent viscosity.
Cates
M E
ME
SUPA, School of Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom.
Fielding
S M
SM
Marenduzzo
D
D
Orlandini
E
E
Yeomans
J M
JM