Computing Microstructural Dynamics for Complex Fluids

Abstract

Complex liquids such as polymeric or fiber suspensions are rich in interesting phenomena and as an area of scientific inquiry sits astride materials science and fluid dynamics. Materials science enters because such fluids are a form of composite material with micro-structure, while fluid dynamics enters because complex liquids are, well, fluidic. Computation plays a large role in their study not only at the continuum level, which is not a finished business anyway, but also at the microscopic level where the microstructure can have non-trivial dynamics in response to simple forcing flows.