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Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Simultaneous Measurement of Turbulence and Particle Kinematics Using Flow Imaging Techniques
Published on: March 12, 2019
Vortex arrays and mesoscale turbulence of self-propelled particles
Robert Grossmann1, Pawel Romanczuk1, Markus Bär1
1Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Berlin, Abbestraße 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Inspired by the Turing mechanism for pattern formation, we propose a simple self-propelled particle model with short-range alignment and antialignment at larger distances. It is able to produce orientationally ordered states, periodic vortex patterns, and mesoscale turbulence, which resembles observations in dense suspensions of swimming bacteria. The model allows a systematic derivation and analysis of a kinetic theory as well as hydrodynamic equations for density and momentum fields. A phase diagram with regions of pattern formation as well as orientational order is obtained from a linear stability analysis of these continuum equations. Microscopic Langevin simulations of self-propelled particles are in agreement with these findings.
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