Münster 1999 – scientific programme

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DY: Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 10: Polymere und Membranen

DY 10.3: Talk

Monday, March 22, 1999, 10:15–10:30, R4

Towards a Fluid Dynamics of Dilute Polymer Solutions — •R. Rzehak and W. Zimmermann — Institut für Festkörperforschung und FORUM Modellierung, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich

At present the dynamics of dilute polymer solutions is largely based on empiricisms which lack a sound microscopic foundation. This state of knowledge suffices for some engineering applications but is incapable to predict such intricate phenomena as turbulent drag reduction.

In order to improve on this situation a profound understanding of polymer–flow interaction is needed. Of special interest are the effects of hydrodynamic interaction and the flow perturbation caused by the polymer. These two questions have not been investigated thoroughly so far.

The case of a single tethered polymer in uniform flow provides the simplest nontrivial problem from which important information can be gathered. Brownian dynamics simulation of a bead–spring polymer model allows to investigate the importance of various effects on a fundamental level. It thus aides the interpretation of experimental data and facilitates the evaluation of more coarse grained models such as the well-known blob model. Furthermore it may provide data which are needed as input for macroscopic equations. As an example we consider the application of the Karhunen–Loève method to extract relaxation spectra for nonlinear polymer models.