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Annie Colin

Publications and source records attributed to Annie Colin.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Viscosimeter on a microfluidic chip.

In this work, a viscosimeter implemented on a microfluidic chip is presented. The physical principle of this system is to use laminar parallel flows in a microfluidic channel. The fluid to be studied flows side by side with a reference fluid of known viscosity. By using optical microscopy, the shape of the interface between both fluids can be determined. Knowing the flow rates of the two liquids and the geometrical features of the channel, the mean shear rate sustained by the fluid and its viscosity can thus be computed. Accurate and precise measurements of the viscosity as a function of the shear rate can be made using less than 300 microL of fluid. Several complex fluids are tested with viscosities ranging from 10(-)(3) to 70 Pa.s.

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Yielding and flow in adhesive and nonadhesive concentrated emulsions.

The nonlinear rheological response of soft glassy materials is addressed experimentally by focusing on concentrated emulsions where interdroplet attraction is tuned through varying the surfactant content. Velocity profiles are recorded using ultrasonic velocimetry simultaneously to global rheological data in the Couette geometry. Our data show that nonadhesive and adhesive emulsions have radically different flow behaviors in the vicinity of yielding: while the flow remains homogeneous in the nonadhesive emulsion and the Herschel-Bulkley model for a yield stress fluid describes the data very accurately, the adhesive system displays shear localization and does not follow a simple constitutive equation, suggesting that the mechanisms involved in yielding transitions are not universal.

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Stability of parallel flows in a microchannel after a T junction.

In this work, the flow of immiscible fluids in microchannels is studied. Flow pattern diagrams obtained in microfluidic chips are presented. Monodisperse droplets or parallel flows are obtained depending on the flow rate values of the aqueous phase and the oil phase. Transition from droplet regime to parallel flows cannot be described in terms of capillary numbers. Using confocal microscopy and high speed imaging, it was shown that droplets are formed through a blocking-pinching mechanism ruled by flow rate conservation. Conditions for parallel flow stability are quantified.

Journal Article↗

Droplet traffic at a simple junction at low capillary numbers.

We report that, when a train of confined droplets flowing through a channel reaches a junction, the droplets either are alternately distributed between the different outlets or all collect into the shortest one. We argue that this behavior is due to the hydrodynamic feedback of droplets in the different outlets on the selection process occurring at the junction. A "mean field" model, yielding semiquantitative results, offers a first guide to predict droplet traffic in branched networks.

Microfluidics↗

Spatiotemporal dynamics of wormlike micelles under shear.

Velocity profiles in a wormlike micelle solution (cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide in D2O) are recorded using ultrasound every 2 s during a startup experiment into the shear-banding regime. The stress relaxation occurs over more than 6 h and corresponds to the very slow nucleation and growth of the high-shear band. Moreover, oscillations of the interface position with a period of about 50 s are observed during the growth process. Strong wall slip, metastable states, and transient nucleation of three-band flows are also reported and discussed in light of previous experiments and theoretical models.

Biophysical Phenomena↗

Shear banding in a lyotropic lamellar phase. I. Time-averaged velocity profiles.

Using velocity profile measurements based on dynamic light scattering and coupled to structural and rheological measurements in a Couette cell, we present evidences for a shear banding scenario in the shear flow of the onion texture of a lyotropic lamellar phase. Time-averaged measurements clearly show the presence of structural shear banding in the vicinity of a shear-induced transition, associated with the nucleation and growth of a highly sheared band in the flow. Our experiments also reveal the presence of slip at the walls of the Couette cell. Using a simple mechanical approach, we demonstrate that our data confirm the classical assumption of the shear banding picture, in which the interface between bands lies at a given stress sigma(*). We also outline the presence of large temporal fluctuations of the flow field, which are the subject of the second part of this paper [Salmon et al., Phys. Rev. E 68, 051504 (2003)].

Journal Article↗

Shear banding in a lyotropic lamellar phase. II. Temporal fluctuations.

We analyze the temporal fluctuations of the flow field associated with a shear-induced transition in a lyotropic lamellar phase: the layering transition of the onion texture. In the first part of this work [Salmon et al., Phys. Rev. E 68, 051503 (2003)], we have evidenced banded flows at the onset of this shear-induced transition which are well accounted for by the classical picture of shear banding. In the present paper, we focus on the temporal fluctuations of the flow field recorded in the coexistence domain. These striking dynamics are very slow (100-1000 s) and cannot be due to external mechanical noise. Using velocimetry coupled to structural measurements, we show that these fluctuations are due to a motion of the interface separating the two differently sheared bands. Such a motion seems to be governed by the fluctuations of sigma(*), the local stress at the interface between the two bands. Our results thus provide more evidence for the relevance of the classical mechanical approach of shear banding even if the mechanism leading to the fluctuations of sigma(*) remains unclear.

Journal Article↗

Velocity profiles in shear-banding wormlike micelles.

Using dynamic light scattering in heterodyne mode, we measure velocity profiles in a much studied system of wormlike micelles (CPCl/NaSal) known to exhibit both shear-banding and stress plateau behavior. Our data provide evidence for the simplest shear-banding scenario, according to which the effective viscosity drop in the system is due to the nucleation and growth of a highly sheared band in the gap, whose thickness linearly increases with the imposed shear rate. We discuss various details of the velocity profiles in all the regions of the flow curve and emphasize the complex, non-Newtonian nature of the flow in the highly sheared band.

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Dynamical behavior of a complex fluid near an out-of-equilibrium transition: approaching simple rheological chaos.

We report here an extensive study of sustained oscillations of the viscosity of a complex fluid near an out-of-equilibrium transition. Using well defined protocols, we perform rheological measurements of the onion texture near a layering transition in a Couette flow. This complex fluid exhibits sustained oscillations of the viscosity, on a large time scale (500 s) at controlled stress. These oscillations are directly correlated to an oscillating microstructural change of the texture of the fluid. We observe a great diversity of dynamical behavior and show that there is a coupling with spatial effects in the inverted Delta v direction. This is in agreement with a careful analysis of the temporal series of the viscosity with the dynamical system theory. This analysis indicates that the observed dynamical responses do not strictly correspond to three-dimensional chaotic states, probably because some spatiotemporal effects are present and are likely to play an important role.

Journal Article↗