Anisotropic Diffusion in Driven Convection Arrays

Entropy (Basel). 2021 Mar 14;23(3):343. doi: 10.3390/e23030343.

Abstract

We numerically investigate the transport of a Brownian colloidal particle in a square array of planar counter-rotating convection rolls at high Péclet numbers. We show that an external force produces huge excess peaks of the particle's diffusion constant with a height that depends on the force orientation and intensity. In sharp contrast, the particle's mobility is isotropic and force independent. We relate such a nonlinear response of the system to the advection properties of the laminar flow in the suspension fluid.

Keywords: advection enhanced diffusion; brownian motion; classical transport; convection rolls.