Wrinkling instability of vesicles in steady linear flow

Abstract

We present experimental observations and numerical simulations of a wrinkling instability that occurs at sufficiently high strain rates in the trembling regime of vesicle dynamics in steady linear flow. Spectral and statistical analysis of the data shows similarities and differences with the wrinkling instability observed earlier for vesicles in transient elongation flow. The critical relevance of thermal fluctuations for this phenomenon is revealed by a simple model using coupled Langevin equations that reproduces the experimental observations quite well.