Gwynn Elfring

Associate Professor

B.Eng, M.A.Sc., (University of Victoria), Ph.D., (University of California, San Diego), Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Research Interests

My research involves using the methods of applied mathematics, typically asymptotic analysis or numerical methods, to solve problems in science and engineering, often in collaboration with or inspired by experimentalists. My current research interests include:

• Biological Fluid Mechanics
• Complex Fluids
• Cell Biomechanics
• Capillary Phenomena
• Active Matter

Current Research Work

• Biological Fluid Mechanics: A bulk of my work has been on the mechanics of bio-locomotion and cell-cell interactions, studying how cells swim, how they can deform one another passively via fluid-structure interactions when in close proximity and how this affects collective motility. I am also interested in how active particles, such as swimming cells, affect the mechanical properties of fluids.
• Capillary Phenomena: I am broadly interested in the behaviour of complex fluid interfaces including membranes and interfaces laden with surfactants. Molecules and particles are often attracted to interfaces where they tend to reduce surface tension and by reducing surface tension surfactants can stabilize emulsions important in a plethora of industries from food to petroleum.
• Complex Fluids: Determining how to properly capture non-Newtonian effects and how they affect the behaviour of fluids is important in many flows from cells to large engineering processes and an active area of research.

Selected Publications

• Gong, V.A. Shaik, G.J. Elfring, “Active particles crossing sharp viscosity gradients,” Scientific Reports, 13, 596, 2023.
• Z. Ge, G.J. Elfring, “Rheology of periodically sheared suspensions undergoing reversible-irreversible transition,” Physical Review E, 106, 054616, 2022.
• G.J. Elfring, J.F. Brady, “Active Stokesian Dynamics,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 952, A19, 2022.
• V.A. Shaik, G.J. Elfring, “Hydrodynamics of active particles in viscosity gradients,” Physical Review Fluids, 6, 103103, 2021.
• R. Gupta, R.S. Mitishita, I.A. Frigaard, G.J. Elfring, “Rheology of wormlike micellar gels formed by long-chained zwitterionic surfactants,” Journal of Rheology, 65, 1065–1080, 2021.
• C. Datt, G.J. Elfring, “Active particles in viscosity gradients,” Physical Review Letters, 123, 158006, 2019.
• S.A. Abtahi, G.J. Elfring, “Jeffery orbits in shear-thinning fluids,” Physics of Fluids, 31, 103106, 2019. (Editor’s Pick)
• C. Datt, G.J. Elfring, “A note on higher-order perturbative corrections to squirming speed in weakly viscoelastic fluids”, Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 270, 51-55, 2019.
• B. Nasouri, B. Thorne, G.J. Elfring, “Dynamics of poroelastocapillary rise,” Journal of Fluids and Structures, 85, 220-228, 2019.
• C. Datt, G.J. Elfring, “Dynamics and rheology of particles in shear-thinning fluids,” Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 262, 107-114, 2018.
• C. Datt, B. Nasouri, G.J. Elfring, “Two-sphere swimmers in viscoelastic fluids,” Physical Review Fluids, v3, 123301, 2018.
• B. Nasouri, G.J. Elfring, “Higher-order force moments of active particles,” Physical Review Fluids, 3, 044101, 2018.
• G. Natale, C. Datt, S.G. Hatzikiriakos, G.J. Elfring, “Autophoretic locomotion in weakly viscoelastic fluids at finite Péclet number,” Physics of Fluids, 29, 123102, 2017.
• G.J. Elfring, “Force moments of an active particle in a complex fluid,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 829, R3, 2017.
• C. Datt, G. Natale, S.G. Hatzikiriakos, G.J. Elfring, “An active particle in a complex fluid,” Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 823, 675-688, 2017.

For a full list of publications, visit my profile on: