Stochastic Eulerian-Lagrangian methods for fluid-structure interactions with thermal fluctuations
Presenter
October 16, 2009
Keywords:
- Fluid-solid interactions
MSC:
- 74F10
Abstract
Keywords: Statistical Mechanics, Soft Condensed Materials, Stochastic Eulerian Lagrangian Methods, Fluid Dynamics.
Abstract: A modeling and simulation formalism is presented for the study of soft materials. The formalism
takes into account microstructure elasticity, hydrodynamic interactions, and thermal fluctuations. As a specific motivation we consider lipid bilayer membranes and polymeric fluids. The
approach couples a Lagrangian description of the microstructures (lipid molecules / polymers)
with an Eulerian description of the hydrodynamics. Thermal fluctuations are incorporated in
the formalism by an appropriate stochastic forcing of the resulting equations in accordance
with the principles of statistical mechanics. The overall approach extends previous work on
the Stochastic Immersed Boundary Method. Simulation studies are presenting showing
applications of the methodology in the study of lipid flow in bilayer membranes, the shear
viscosity of polymer fluids and lipid structures, and the diffusivity of particles in complex fluids.