Research Activities >
Programs >
Complex Fluids 2007
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The Micromechanics of Colloidal Dispersions
CSIC Building (#406),
Seminar Room 4122.
Directions: home.cscamm.umd.edu/directions
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The Micromechanics of Colloidal Dispersions
Professor
John Brady
California Institute of Technology
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Abstract:
Many complex fluids are composed of (or can be
modeled as) small particles dispersed in a viscous
fluid where Brownian or thermal forces compete
against interparticle and hydrodynamic forces to set
structure and determine properties. Examples include
paints, coatings, dyes, ceramic sols, foodstuffs,
polymer solutions and melts, biological fluids,
blood, emulsions, fluidized beds, bubble columns and
even flow in porous media. A central problem is to
understand and predict how these “microstructured”
materials behave under flow. The task is difficult
because the way in which a material responds to an
external perturbation depends on the internal
microstructure, and the microstructure in turn
depends on the perturbation; so the two are
intimately coupled. Computer simulation has emerged
as a useful tool to study this two-way coupling. In
these lectures I will first describe the underlying
physics governing the behavior of particles in a
viscous liquid and illustrate the central role of
hydrodynamics. I will then discuss how the
microscale interactions can be incorporated into
rigorous computer simulation techniques for
investigating the mesoscale properties of
particulate dispersions. Finally, I will offer some
suggestions as to how the mesocale behavior can
provide a platform for macroscale modeling of
complex fluids in complex flows.
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