The Research Topic “Dynamics of Complex Fluids” is aimed to provide a discussion forum for research on the dynamics of fluids (including suspensions) composed of macroscopic active agents, cells, or passive particles. Systems include biological living fluids (including bacterial or viral cell suspensions), synthetic active fluids (such as suspensions of self-propelling colloids, active polymers, or rotating active particles) and externally driven fluids of passive particles (examples being granular fluids and suspensions). In some of these complex fluids, particles may also display asymmetry in their rotational motion (due to chirality) and this could lead to interesting dynamical behavior.

Several interesting features and collective phenomena arise from these peculiar properties. Examples include flow chirality, phase separation, pattern formation, phase transitions and memory effects. These features strongly impact on the stability, stress response, and out of equilibrium properties of the fluids. In addition, confinement and boundary interactions provide additional avenues by which interesting and non-trivial properties may arise. Moreover, non-linear effects resulting in collective features and new flow patterns in complex fluids are only now beginning to be uncovered. There are still significant gaps in our knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms underlying these phenomena.

Insights into these soft fluidic materials have stimulated new theoretical models, together with highly efficient large-scale computations. In addition, recent advances in experimental techniques have conferred a significant ability to control nonlinear and out-of-equilibrium patterns. Thus, these complex fluids can be studied in detail in increasingly controlled experiments. The combination of experimental and theoretical tools has led us to an exciting point where we are poised to make significant advances in our fundamental understanding of complex fluids, as well as engineer new and novel applications.

The current Research Topic aims to combine theoretical, experimental and computational studies to uncover active phenomena in complex fluids with a particular focus on flow and pattern formation. We expect to cover promising, recent, and novel research trends on active elastic solids of biological origin, active (including chiral) fluids, and granular and suspensions flows.

Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
- Rheology and dynamics of fluids and suspensions of active and passive particles.
- Pattern formation in complex fluids
- Chiral fluids
- Jamming and flow in granular materials,
- Memory effects in complex fluids.
- Pattern formation in biological complex fluids.
- Microfluidic manipulation of particles and suspensions
- Bio-inspired and synthetic field-activated complex fluids

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