Transport Mechanics of Complex Fluids
Our research program includes the study of different areas associated with transport in complex fluids including:
- the occurrence of purely elastic instabilities in polymer flows,
- the micro-dynamics of polymer molecules, including DNA, in non-equilibrium transport, and
- the flow behavior of fiber suspensions.
Our approach in these areas includes developing large scale simulations (including both Brownian dynamics and continuum simulation) of poorly understood phenomena and then couple these to detailed experiments to elucidate the important physics in a variety of processes.
Ongoing large projects in these areas include an examination of elastic effects in coating instabilities, studies of DNA dynamics in mixed flows with application to scission and sequencing, investigations of the separation of complex macromolecules in Brownian ratchets and fabricated post arrays, and molecular simulation of turbulent drag reduction by polymers and fibers.
