  We use numerical simulations to systematically investigate the vesicle
dynamics in two-dimensional (2D) Taylor-Green vortex flow in the absence of
inertial forces. Vesicles are highly deformable membranes encapsulating an
incompressible fluid and they serve as numerical and experimental proxies for
biological cells such as red blood cells. Vesicle dynamics has been studied in
free-space/bounded shear, Poiseuille and Taylor-Couette flows in 2D and 3D.
Taylor-Green vortex are characterized with even more complicated properties
than those flows such as non-uniform flow line curvature, shear gradient. We
study the effects of two parameters on the vesicle dynamics: the ratio of the
interior fluid viscosity to that of the exterior one and the ratio of the shear
forces on the vesicle to the membrane stiffness (characterized by the capillary
number). Vesicle deformability nonlinearly depends on these parameters.
Although the study is in 2D, our findings contribute to the wide spectrum of
intriguing vesicle dynamics: vesicles migrate inwards and eventually rotate at
the vortex center if they are sufficiently deformable. If not so, they migrate
away from the vortex center and travel across the periodic arrays of vortices.

Biological Physics;Fluid Dynamics