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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
Published on: May 1, 2018
Particle size effect on diffusion in tubes with dead ends: Nonmonotonic size dependence of effective diffusion
Leonardo Dagdug1, Alexander M Berezhkovskii, Yurii A Makhnovskii
1Departamento de Fisica, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, 09340 Mexico DF, Mexico. dll@xanum.uam.mx
Abstract:
Diffusion of a spherical particle of radius r in a tube with identical periodic dead ends is analyzed. It is shown that the effective diffusion constant follows the Stokes-Einstein relation, D(eff)(r) proportional to 1r, only when r is larger or much smaller than the radius of the dead end entrance. In between, D(eff)(r) not only deviates from the 1r behavior but may also even become a nonmonotonic function, which increases with the particle radius for a certain range of r.
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