Motivation
Complex fluids, including liquid crystals and those with non-Newtonian rheologies, are extremely important in a wide variety of disciplines, from biological to industrial. We are developing a series of tools to extend the Dedalus to include multiphase flows with varying rheologies.
Methods
We make extensive use of the phase field method to simulate two fluids on the same grid. This idea, sometimes also called the “diffusive interface model”, assumes that we resolve the interface between the two fluids. By minimizing a properly constructed free energy, the phase field φ includes surface tension and allows us to specify two different fluids with different material properties on the same grid.
We have developed techniques for viscoelastic Oldroyd-B fluids as well as liquid crystals.
Project Repository
Coming soon!
External Collaborators
- Jörn Dunkel, MIT
- Phil Pearce, MIT
- Dominic Skinner, MIT
- Knut Drescher, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology