Levich Institute Seminar Announcement, 09/25/2007

Tuesday, 09/25/2007 2:00 PM Steinman Hall, Room #312 (Chemical Engineering Conference Room) Professor Tony Ladd University of Florida Department of Chemical Engineering "Polymer Migration in Confined Geometries " [This is a CCNY/Columbia NSF-IGERT Soft Materials seminar]

ABSTRACT

I will describe ongoing research into the migration of polymers in narrow channels. We have used a combination of numerical simulation and kinetic theory to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the motion of polymers transverse to applied flow and force fields. Numerical simulations show that a flexible polymer migrates towards the channel center under the action of either a body force or a pressure-driven flow field. However, in combination we can drive the polymer towards the center or towards the walls, depending on the relative magnitudes of flow and force. These observations are explained qualitatively by a kinetic theory of a Hookean dumbbell. I will outline how these results impact our understanding of migration of polyelectroyltes driven by flow and electric fields.

O.B. Usta, J.E. Butler and A.J.C. Ladd, Phys. Rev. Lett., 98:098301 2007.

BRIEF ACADEMIC/EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND:

Professor Ladd was a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from 1986 to 1997. In January 1998 he joined the faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Current research interests include statistical mechanics and fluid dynamics, with applications to the interactions between particles and a suspending fluid.

Return to Fluid Mechanics Fall, 2007 Seminar Menu