Computer Modelling Of Fluids Polymers And Solids

Computer Modelling techniques have developed very rapidly during the last decade, and interact with many contemporary scientific disciplines. One of the areas of greatest activity has concerned the modelling of condensed phases, including liquids solids and amorphous systems, where simulations have been used to provide insight into basic physical processes and in more recent years to make reliable predictions of the properties of the systems simulated. Indeed the predictive role of simulations is increasingly recognised both in academic and industrial contexts. Current active areas of application include topics as diverse as the viscosity of liquids, the conformation of proteins, the behaviour of hydrogen in metals, the diffusion of molecules in porous catalysts and the properties of micelles. This book, which is based on a NATO ASI held at the University of Bath, UK, from September 5th-17th, 1988, aims to give a general survey of this field, with detailed discussions both of methodologies and of applications. The earlier chapters of the book are devoted mainly to techniques and the later ones to recent simulation studies of fluids, polymers (including biological molecules) and solids. Special attention is paid to the role of interatomic potentials which are the fundamental physical input to simulations. In addition, developments in computer hardware are considered in depth, owing to the crucial role which such developments are playing in the expansion of the horizons of computer modelling studies.

The idea of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of computational physics methods and techniques, that are used for materials modeling on different length and time scales. Each chapter first provides an overview of the physical basic principles which are the basis for the numerical and mathematical modeling on the respective length-scale. The book includes the micro-scale, the meso-scale and the macro-scale. The chapters follow this classification. The book will explain in detail many tricks of the trade of some of the most important methods and techniques that are used to simulate materials on the perspective levels of spatial and temporal resolution. Case studies are occasionally included to further illustrate some methods or theoretical considerations. Example applications for all techniques are provided, some of which are from the author’s own contributions to some of the research areas. Methods are explained, if possible, on the basis of the original publications but also references to standard text books established in the various fields are mentioned.

Filling a gap in the literature and all set to become the standard in this field, this monograph begins with a look at computational viscoelastic fluid mechanics and studies of turbulent flows of dilute polymer solutions. It then goes on discuss simulations of nanocomposites, polymerization kinetics, computational approaches for polymers and modeling polyelectrolytes. Further sections deal with tire optimization, irreversible phenomena in polymers, the hydrodynamics of artificial and bacterial flagella as well as modeling and simulation in liquid crystals. The result is invaluable reading for polymer and theoretical chemists, chemists in industry, materials scientists and plastics technologists.

The idea of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of computational physics methods and techniques, that are used for materials modeling on different length and time scales. Each chapter first provides an overview of the basic physical principles which are the basis for the numerical and mathematical modeling on the respective length-scale. The book includes the micro-scale, the meso-scale and the macro-scale, and the chapters follow this classification. The book explains in detail many tricks of the trade of some of the most important methods and techniques that are used to simulate materials on the perspective levels of spatial and temporal resolution. Case studies are included to further illustrate some methods or theoretical considerations. Example applications for all techniques are provided, some of which are from the author’s own contributions to some of the research areas. The second edition has been expanded by new sections in computational models on meso/macroscopic scales for ocean and atmosphere dynamics. Numerous applications in environmental physics and geophysics had been added.

Very few polymer mechanics problems are solved with only pen and paper today, and virtually all academic research and industrial work relies heavily on finite element simulations and specialized computer software. Introducing and demonstrating the utility of computational tools and simulations, Mechanics of Solid Polymers provides a modern view of how solid polymers behave, how they can be experimentally characterized, and how to predict their behavior in different load environments. Reflecting the significant progress made in the understanding of polymer behaviour over the last two decades, this book will discuss recent developments and compare them to classical theories. The book shows how best to make use of commercially available finite element software to solve polymer mechanics problems, introducing readers to the current state of the art in predicting failure using a combination of experiment and computational techniques. Case studies and example Matlab code are also included. As industry and academia are increasingly reliant on advanced computational mechanics software to implement sophisticated constitutive models – and authoritative information is hard to find in one place - this book provides engineers with what they need to know to make best use of the technology available. Helps professionals deploy the latest experimental polymer testing methods to assess suitability for applications Discusses material models for different polymer types Shows how to best make use of available finite element software to model polymer behaviour, and includes case studies and example code to help engineers and researchers apply it to their work

Computer Simulation in Chemical Physics contains the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at CORISA, Alghero, Sardinia, in September 1992. In the five years that have elapsed since the field was last summarized there have been a number of remarkable advances which have significantly expanded the scope of the methods. Good examples are the Car--Parrinello method, which allows the study of materials with itinerant electrons; the Gibbs technique for the direct simulation of liquid--vapor phase equilibria; the transfer of scaling concepts from simulations of spin models to more complex systems; and the development of the configurational--biased Monte-Carlo methods for studying dense polymers. The field has also been stimulated by an enormous increase in available computing power and the provision of new software. All these exciting developments, an more, are discussed in an accessible way here, making the book indispensable reading for graduate students and research scientists in both academic and industrial settings.

Computer simulation techniques are now having a major impact on almost all areas of the physical and biological sciences. This book concentrates on the application of these methods to inorganic materials, including topical and industrially relevant systems including zeolites and high Tc superconductors. The central theme of the book is the use of modern simulation techniques as a structural tool in solid state science. Computer Modelling in Inorganic Crystallography describes the current range of techniques used in modeling crystal structures, and strong emphasis is given to the use of modeling in predicting new crystal structures and refining partially known structures. It also reviews new opportunities being opened up by electronic structure calculation and explains the ways in which these techniques are illuminating our knowledge of bonding in solids. Includes a thorough review of the technical basis of relevant contemporary methodologies including minimization, Monte-Carlo, molecular dynamics, simulated annealing methods, and electronic structure methods Highlights applications to amorphous and crystalline solids Surveys simulations of surface and defect properties of solids Discusses applications to molecular and inorganic solids

The book examines innovative numerical methods for computational solid and fluid mechanics that can be used to model complex problems in engineering. It also presents innovative and promising simulation methods, including the fundamentals of these methods, as well as advanced topics and complex applications. Further, the book explores how numerical simulations can significantly reduce the number of time-consuming and expensive experiments required, and can support engineering decisions by providing data that would be very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain experimentally. It also includes chapters covering topics such as particle methods addressing particle-based materials and numerical methods that are based on discrete element formulations; fictitious domain methods; phase field models; computational fluid dynamics based on modern finite volume schemes; hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin methods; and non-intrusive coupling methods for structural models.