Exploring the universal dynamics of dilute polymer solutions in extensional flows

✍ Scribed by R. Prabhakar; P. Sunthar; J. Ravi Prakash

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 188 KB
• Volume: 339
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-4371
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2004.03.052

✦ Synopsis

A systematic framework introduced recently to obtain parameter-free predictions of material properties of dilute polymer solutions in extensional ows is reviewed. The essential constraint of ensuring that the model polymer molecule has a ÿnite length is met by using a bead-spring chain model with ÿnitely extensible springs, and the important microscopic phenomenon of excluded volume and hydrodynamic interactions are incorporated in the model. The key aspect of the scheme is the use of Brownian dynamics simulations in the context of a successive ÿne-graining procedure, which enables the consistent extrapolation of ÿnite bead-spring chain data to the limit of a bead-rod model with the correct degree of exibility and chain length. Predictions are shown to compare favourably with experimental observations of dilute solutions of polystyrene and DNA molecules.