DFG Priority Program SPP 1164
Nano- & Microfluidics:
Bridging the Gap between
Molecular Motion and Continuum Flow
Flow behaviour of soft objects like polymers, vesicles and cells in microchannels
| Project Leader: | Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gompper Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Institut für Festkörperforschung Jülich |
| together with: | Prof. Dr. Roland G. Winkler Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Institut für Festkörperforschung Jülich |
Summary
The
dynamics, conformations, and flow behaviour of soft objects like
macromolecules, in particular DNA, vesicles, or blood cells will be
studied in microchannels. We want to achieve a detailed understanding
of the influence of the micrometer size geometry on the transport
properties and the structure of the fluid. This comprises the
individual soft objects as well as possible collective effects in form
of structure formation (e.g. aggregation). For this purpose we perform
hybrid computer simulations. To simulate the fluid flow we exploit a
particle-based mesoscale simulation technique (multi-particle-collision
dynamics) which accounts for hydrodynamic interactions. Vesicles and
cells are described by triangulated surface models. In the proposal
period we will perform a detailed study of the flow induces universal
conformational and dynamical properties of a single polymer by varying
the ration between the polymer length to the channel width as well as
its persistence length. Collective properties of several polymers in
capillary flow will also be investigated. For vesicles and cells, the
influence of membrane permeability as well as geometrical channel
structures on their shapes and flow behaviour will be studied.