UC San Diego

Active fluids, such as suspensions of swimming microorganisms, have been shown to spontaneously create flow. Controlling active flows could provide advantages for those designing microfluidic devices. Therefore, we looked into geometric control of active fluids confined in a ring. Primarily focusing on the effect on bacterial flow, we used a sawtooth perturbation to determine factors useful in guiding and controlling active flows. It was found that the amplitude, asymmetry, and size of the sawtooth affected the total bacterial flow created by the geometry. Additionally, optimization methods were developed to determine a shape that creates maximum bacterial flux.