“Multi-Scale Simulations of Thermodynamics and Flow of Polymeric, Colloidal, and Surfactant Materials”

With Ronald G. Larson, Ph.D., Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Seminar abstract

Continuum-level thermodynamic, rheology, and flow properties relevant to industrial applications can now be computed from multi-scale simulations ranging from molecular dynamics (MD), Brownian dynamics (BD), and continuum fluid mechanical simulations. Molecular simulations are aided by biasing methods, such as umbrella sampling, and forward flux sampling. Reduction of computation is assisted by non-linear optimization methods, including the Genetic Algorithm and the Particle Swarm Method. We demonstrate the power of these methods by computing the dynamics and rheology of “polymer-like” worm-like surfactant solutions and colloid-polymer mixtures used in consumer and industrial products, namely shampoos and paints, and film blowing of polyethylene polymers. We also compare the predicted results to experimental data, and extract information, that is unavailable, or not easily available, from experiments alone. 

Biography

Ronald Larson has over 40 years of experience of research on the structure and flow properties of viscous or elastic fluids, sometimes called “complex fluids”, which include polymers, colloids, surfactant containing fluids, liquid crystals, and biological macromolecules such as DNA. He has written numerous scientific papers and two books on these subjects, including a 1998 textbook, “The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids.” Larson was the President of the Society of Rheology (SOR) from 1997 to 1999, and served on the Executive Committee of that Society during the period 1991 to 2001. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), and is a member of the SOR, the APS, the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE). In 2000 he became the G.G. Brown Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and then also the AH White Distinguished University Professor of the University of Michigan. He is a recipient of both the Alpha Chi Sigma and Walker Awards of the AIChE, and in 2002 received the Bingham Medal from the Society of Rheology. In 2003, he was admitted into the National Academy of Engineering.